Parking Break Not Engaging, Head-lights go out when lever pressed
 

Just bought an 07 Caravan with 80K KM 'mileage'.

I don't know what it is but I can't get the parking breaks to engage. I took it back to the dealer's mechanic and he was able to show me how to engage the break and it worked then. However whenever I try and engage the parking breaks at home, the lever doesn't stay pressed, it doesn't click like it does in other cars. It just springs back without engaging. Even when I use all the force I can, it doesn't stick.

Instead what happens is that headlights, if on, die out when the lever is pressed. When the lever is pressed down, the parking-break dash-light is displayed. When I take my foot away, the head light resumes, dash-light goes away.

the ratcheting mechanism in the lever isn't working. Inspect it to find the problem or replace it.

the lights going out when the ebrake on is normal operation.