Police seek help in alleged assault case

Queenstown police are appealing for help in identifying a Polynesian or Maori man who allegedly put a woman in a headlock while searching her handbag for money, then assaulted a Queenstown good Samaritan who intervened.

A 33-year-old English bartender overheard the man and woman arguing while he used the toilet in the Tardis nightclub about 4am. The bartender asked the woman how she was, but the man turned his threatening behaviour on the Englishman, who closed the door of the stall as protection.

The door was then kicked in and the victim was punched. He suffered a cut across his nose and bruises on his face, but did not seek medical help.

The alleged offender was captured by security cameras wearing an adidas T-shirt and New York Yankees baseball cap.

''The alleged offender walked out of the bar quite nonchalantly, as if this level of violence was commonplace for him,'' Senior Constable Sean Drader, of Queenstown, said on Monday.

Friday, February 22

• A 22-year-old from Northern Ireland, was arrested after a theft in Night `n Day on Shotover St.

The woman was captured on security cameras and an image of her was posted on a social media page run by Queenstown police. The woman's friends identified her within 10 minutes and urged her to telephone police.

Saturday, February 23

• A Queenstown police constable received a backhanded blow to his eye after two 19-year-old German students were caught allegedly urinating on a shop window in Ballarat St at 2.20am.

One of the two visitors allegedly struck the officer, then soiled himself. He was charged with offensive behaviour, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer. The other German fled, but was seen about an hour later on Gorge Rd. He was arrested for offensive behaviour, then given a pre-charge warning.

• In unrelated incidences, a 23-year-old Queenstown woman and a 41-year-old Dunedin woman were individually arrested for alleged drunken or threatening behaviour during the Gibbston Summer Concert.

• A Brazilian man who lives in Queenstown was treated in Invercargill Hospital and his blood was taken for analysis by Invercargill police after he allegedly rolled the vehicle he was driving off the Glenorchy-Queenstown Rd at 5.30pm.

The five other occupants of the vehicle were uninjured.

• A 55-year-old Queenstown man was charged with driving with a breath-alcohol level of 712mcg on Lake Ave at 8.15pm.

• A 45-year-old Christchurch man was punched in the face in an altercation with the neighbour of his unit in Caples Court Motel at 9.45pm.

Sunday, February 24

• A ''drunk and angry'' 40-year-old Oamaru man was arrested for threatening behaviour likely to cause violence when he allegedly tried to start fights, then later threatened to destroy a room in Shotover Lodge at 1.50am.

Monday, February 25

• A 34-year-old Gore man was arrested for disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence after he allegedly became abusive to a doorman of the Boiler Room bar and pushed a table against him at 2.40am.

• A 34-year-old Spanish man who lives in Queenstown was charged with driving with a breath-alcohol level of 637mcg on Lake Esplanade.

• Police are identifying a Queenstown male offender after an incident of assault in Earnslaw Park on Monday morning.

At 3.25am two allegedly intoxicated men walked through the park and up to a couple before a fight broke out.

The offender grabbed the male who was with his female partner, threw him to the ground, and kicked him, Senior Constable Sean Drader said.

He said it appeared from CCTV footage the man instigated the fight.

• A 29-year-old Indian man will face careless driving charges after he stopped in the middle of the road in an 80kmh zone, causing the car behind him to crash into the rear of his rental vehicle.

No-one was injured in the incident near Lake Hayes pavilion.

- Source: Queenstown Police.