A Wellington locksmith is in hot water after he allegedly poured water over a homeless woman outside his store - but he claims he was just trying to wash his windows.
Eyewitness Violet Wilson-Baird told Newshub she saw the Courtenay Place Lock Doctor employee dump water on the woman and her belongings in the November 14 incident.
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"I heard a lot of yelling, a man's voice - 'f**k off, f**k off' and a woman yelling back and telling him to stop and I saw water splashing and the woman was all wet," she said.
"So I saw the first bit of what happened out of the corner of my eye - but I got closer because I couldn't tell if I should intervene, if it was safe and that's when I saw the man take the water and very deliberately pour water all over the woman's bedding."
Ms Wilson-Baird said she confronted the man afterwards, but he was unrepentant and said it was not his fault the woman was homeless.
Lock Doctor owner Bruce Smith told Newshub his employee's version of events was quite different to Ms Wilson-Baird's.
"He was busy washing windows. He's asked this girl to move who was sitting on the ground, who was begging or what have you," he told Newshub.
"She refused so he's continued washing windows, she's grabbed the bucket of water he's had, he's let that go and she's copped the bulk of the water and then turned around and tried to throw the water at him. He stepped aside and another member of the public who was waiting for some keys got wet."
Newshub spoke to the employee in question, who repeated the same story but said it was a woman walking past with nothing to do with the incident that got drenched.
The employee, who didn't want to be named, said he often has to clean the front of the shop due to debris left behind and not picked up by council cleaners.
"The council go through and clean the footpath, but they don't clean up against the shops because they leave all the shops dirty," he said.
"There's a part out from the shops that gets quite dirty that I tend to scrub and clean... to keep the shop nice and clean."
Both Lock Doctor staff members said a friend or family member of the homeless woman involved in the altercation returned after the incident to pour juice on the employee and a customer.
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"One of her mates has turned up and thrown juice all over him while he was trying to cut a key for a customer," Mr Smith said.
"Our machinery has worn the juice, he's worn it, and so has the customer."
Mr Smith and the employee say the police were called after the initial incident involving the water, but officers were not sent to the scene.
Police confirmed they received a call about the altercation from the locksmith, as well as an unidentified woman.
Both Lock Doctor staff said they often had problems with homeless people in the area.
Ms Wilson-Baird said she has noticed tension between shopkeepers and homeless people across the city.
"I am really concerned that there is a culture of contempt towards the Wellington homeless community," she said.
"Whatever the tension is between shop keepers and the homeless - the homeless exist and should be able to do so free from violence."
Newshub.
