Irish Echo News

A 31-year-old Irish tourist has been savagely beaten in Westport, New Zealand, after leaving a local nightclub, with police believing the sole reason for the attack was because of the man’s accent.

Robbie O’Brien (pictured) was in the West Coast South Island town as part of a three-week trip to New Zealand before being savagely set upon by a local man after leaving a local nightclub. He was punched in the face and then kicked while on the ground, leaving him requiring hospital treatment. 

Some other local men, with whom O’Brien had been drinking, came to his aid, but the attack had already left him with serious facial injuries.

O’Brien reported having seen the man earlier that same night inside the club in question, but he told police that he had not spoken with the man. Police believe the attack was sparked solely by O’Brien’s accent.

“At approximately 3.30am on Sunday, April 20 a male Irish tourist was attacked in Westport’s main street,” according to a statement from Senior Sgt Geoff Scott. 

“He had been at a nightclub and was walking to his accommodation with some locals he had met at the club. He was approached, and spoken to, by a male from a group who had been in the area.

“He was suddenly and unexpectedly punched in the face, after which he fell to the ground where he was kicked in the head,” he said. 

“During the attack the newly made acquaintances came to his assistance and they too received some minor injuries. In the resulting melee one of the attackers was pushed through a shop window. This attack was without provocation and appears to have occurred only because the victim spoke with an accent.” 

The  incident is the second of its kind in as many weeks after English and Danish tourists were attacked in central Christchurch.

Police believe that they too were targeted because they spoke in foreign accents.

Four men have been arrested in connection with the Christchurch attack, while Jarrod Akapita Whata, a 20-year-old Westport timber worker, has appeared in the Westport District Court charged with causing injury with intent to O’Brien.

The attacks have led to a warning being released by the New Zealand tourism figures who have encouraged tourism operators not to be shy of alerting tourists to the dangers in the country.