From Mountain Scene Queenstown:

Racist gang bashing
By Ryan Keen
15 Nov 2007

A QUEENSTOWNER of Indian descent has been the victim of a late-night racist attack downtown.

He was set upon by a mob while in a Queenstown Taxis car and the cabbie had to floor it to escape.

The victim, who doesn’t want to be named in case of further trouble, was about to head home with his girlfriend and another female friend when five or six males in their 20s hurled insults at him about 2am last Saturday.

The group called him a “terrorist�, a “Paki,� and a “ding ding� as he walked out of the Turkish Kebab shop on Beach Street to get into the taxi.

“They were being racist, calling me a terrorist. I totally ignored them.
Normally I would say something but I didn’t even say anything, just ‘yeah, yeah’.

“I was more concerned about getting the two girls I was with in the car and eating my doner kebab.

“One guy opened the door and another one punched me in the mouth while I had the kebab in it. It was a moving vehicle.�

The victim, who suffered a fat lip and loose tooth, says the others in the mob were “kicking the car in� when cabbie Peter Hough floored it.

“No one likes to be Trevor Mallard-ed,� the victim notes wryly.

Cabbie Hough says the attackers were “big boys� who were “real aggressive�.

“It was five onto one – that’s how they fight these days.�

His taxi suffered little damage despite them giving it a kicking as well.

“Even as I was driving they were hanging on and punching [my passenger].

I floored it a bit then stopped because they were still hanging on. At that stage I thought they really meant business and that’s when I really floored it.�

Hough says it was an “ugly night� in general.

The victim has lodged a complaint with police, who are yet to make any arrests.

Acting sergeant Steve Watt says inquiries continue.