'Devastating': Indian family racially abused in Christchurch, hunt on to identify attacker
The family was out to show the toddler cherry blossom trees at Hagley Park on Saturday.
“We’ll always be reminded of this, thanks to this man who thinks we don’t belong.”
A Christchurch golf club is trying to identify a man accused of racially abusing and assaulting an Indian father in Hagley Park, saying he does not appear to be one of its members.
Hagley Golf Club president Hamish Galloway said the club had seen photographs of the man involved in Saturday’s incident and did not believe he belonged to the club.
“We're a community golf course. We have a real range of people that belong to our club and we pride ourselves on that. There's a real ethnic diversity that's important to us,” Galloway told RNZ.
“So for something like this to happen is devastating for us.”
The incident happened on Saturday afternoon when an Indian couple, who have lived in Christchurch for more than six years, took their 15-month-old son to Hagley Park to see the cherry blossoms.
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The couple told Stuff that their son had wandered off the footpath when a golfer began yelling at the family, apparently concerned the child could be struck by a golf ball.
They said the confrontation then became racist, with the man allegedly telling them: “Go back to your country, you f...ing idiots.”
The father said he approached the golfer to understand what the problem was, but the man continued yelling before allegedly pushing him twice.
Police said they received a report about 1.45pm on Saturday of an assault in Hagley Park in which a person was allegedly pushed twice.
Police have previously confirmed the alleged racial element of the incident had also been noted. Enquiries are continuing.
Galloway said he had contacted the family to express the club’s regret over what happened and offer its support.
He said the club sometimes had problems with people playing on the course without signing in or paying at the clubhouse, and that could have happened in this case.
The club was continuing efforts to establish the man’s identity.
The Indian father told Stuff the incident had left his family feeling unwelcome in the country they had called home for more than six years.
The couple’s son was born in New Zealand. “He is the first Kiwi in my family,” the father said.
The family said the encounter had left them feeling like outsiders.
“We’ll always be reminded of this, thanks to this man who thinks we don’t belong.”
