Man attacked by St Patrick's revellers

A Dunedin man says he had his shirt ripped, glasses pulled off his face and his car's wing mirror yanked off after he confronted drunken St Patrick's Day revellers who were urinating on his property.

Walking from work to his Malvern St home, Chris Gable encountered a large crowd of green-clad revellers in the area of the former Woodhaugh Hotel, about 5pm on Monday.

The group had been drinking in the Woodhaugh area for most of the day, with police arriving several times following concerned calls from residents.

Mr Gable said he confronted one partygoer who climbed over his fence to bounce on his trampoline.

''I told him 'you have five seconds to get off my property, otherwise I will call the police'.''

Minutes after that person left, he found a man urinating on his car and another man urinating on the side of his house.

''I am quite angry at this time.''

He ended up tackling to the ground the man who had urinated against his house, ''whereupon I am surrounded by eight guys and get my shirt ripped and my glasses knocked off''.

''It was pretty ugly there for a few minutes.''

Mr Gable stressed not all the partygoers exhibited bad behaviour, with others trying to calm the more aggressive young men. Afterwards, he heard a loud bang and found a wing mirror had been knocked off his car.

He later had to leave the property, and while he was away, his neighbour, Jeff Dickie found an estimated 40 people on Mr Gable's section, including some bouncing on his trampoline and others urinating on his property.

''They were all drunk. I wasn't. I was very, very angry so I didn't feel at all intimidated,'' he said.

Mr Gable said he planned to send the bill for the damage to his car to the University of Otago, and like Mr Dickie had had enough of ''boorish behaviour ingrained in the life of many North Dunedin residents''.

''There is a duty to be a good neighbour to the rest of North Dunedin and they are simply not. On a weekly basis, we have to endure the sights of bins tipped over at the weekend, or tiptoe around vomit as you walk to work.''

A university spokesman said staff were unavailable to answer questions from the Otago Daily Times, including about a claim bottles were thrown at Campus Watch staff.

Police made two arrests in connection with the Woodhaugh party.

- hamish.mcneilly@odt.co.nz

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