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Frances Chin/Stuff
A woman was allegedly attacked when leaving El Barrio, a bar on Dixon St in central Wellington.
A popular Wellington bar has come forward after a woman was allegedly assaulted by an off-duty security guard who had previously contracted to their venue.
In a post on its Facebook page, El Barrio said a transgender woman of colour was assaulted by an off-duty security guard when leaving the Dixon St bar early Sunday morning.
The Facebook post said the attack – at the start of Wellington’s Pride week – was caught on the venue’s security cameras.
It was “unmistakable”, with the video showing the other security guard on duty laughing and looking away while the assault took place, the bar said.
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Management was alerted to what happened by the woman’s friends on Sunday.
The statement said El Barrio was disappointed the assault took place and “deeply” apologised to the woman, as well as her friends and family who had their safety threatened.
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“We are hurt and angry that the faith we have put in a company that should be providing skilled guards has instead caused harm to one of the many communities we should be keeping safe.”
El Barrio was a place the woman and all her QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous People of Colour) whānau had the right and expectation to be kept safe, the post said.
A complaint has been laid with the security company both guards are contracted to.
The security guard had been banned from the venue and all other local venues that use the same Patron Scan system.
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El Barrio said it would support any police investigation and providing CCTV footage of the incident.
A police spokesperson said they were notified of an assault on Dixon St at about 1.40am on Sunday, when a man reportedly threatened and verbally abused a group of people as they left a bar.
One of the group was assaulted by the man but suffered no significant injury.
Enquiries were ongoing to identify and locate the offender, the spokesperson said.
The weekend also saw its fair share of ugliness when at the Pride festivities, when a man espousing religious views used slurs at and assaulted people there.
CORRECTION: This story has been amended following updated information from El Barrio owner Leon Magowan-Wilson confirming the security guard was off-duty at the time of the assault. (Amended March7, 2023 at 12.39pm)
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