Wellington - The family of a 78-year-old Indian immigrant, said to have lived by the principles of Mahatma Gandhi, was Thursday mourning his death in an apparent road rage incident.

Jasmatbhai Pancha Patel died in Auckland Hospital Wednesday afternoon, a day after he was pulled from his car and beaten following what witnesses described as a minor vehicle collision in suburban Mount Albert.

Patel emigrated to New Zealand 33 years ago and lived with his two sons, their wives and five grandchildren, helping at the family fruit market, news reports said.

"He was the head of the family, totally Indian style ... looking after the sons and then the grandchildren," his 53-year-old son, George Patel, told the New Zealand Herald.

The attack outside a primary school was seen by dozens of horrified school children, the paper said.

Police charged a 27-year-old student, Bio O'Brien, an immigrant from the Pacific island state of Tuvalu, with assaulting Patel and said he would appear in court on Thursday. (dpa)