Matthew Hampson/Stuff
The owner of the DA’s Barn Restaurant & Bar in Picton has been assaulted after an incident on Thursday night.
A man has been arrested after the owner of a Picton bar was punched in the face on Thursday night.
Police were called to DA’s Barn Restaurant & Bar on High St about 7pm after receiving reports of a person acting aggressively, a police spokesperson said.
The person reportedly damaged the property, and the bar owner told Stuff he was punched multiple times in the face by a man who “came in looking to cause trouble” and “marched straight behind the bar”.
He said he sustained a black eye and a “few bumps and bruises,” but was otherwise “all good”. The man who punched him wasn’t a local, he said.
The person fled the scene before police arrived.
The manager of the AAA Marlin Motel said multiple police officers turned up at the motel about 7.30pm.
A 33-year-old man was taken into custody and charged with assault, and a spokesperson confirmed police were armed when the arrest took place.
The man was due to appear in Blenheim District Court on Monday.
The manager of the motel said he was unaware of the police presence at the motel on Thursday night until he approached a couple of “bikies” staying there who had started misbehaving.
He told them “get off the property, we don’t want this, otherwise we’ll call the police”, and the bikies replied “the police are already here”, he said.
Matthew Hampson/Stuff
The manger of the AAA Marlin Motel on Devon St says armed police were present at the motel on Thursday night.
The manager said he didn’t witness the arrest.
On Friday morning, he said there were about “35 of them bikie boys” present at the motel.
“When they started to come in we said ‘oh yeah’, and they kept coming and coming,” he said.
He thought the bikies were motorcycle gang members, but had since forgotten the name of the gang they were associated with, as he had never previously heard of the gang name before yesterday.
They weren’t patched, but they were all wearing black jackets, and some had the word Australia on their jackets, he said.
Several residents told Stuff there was a large group of motorcyclists in Picton on Thursday and Friday. A neighbour of the motel said he estimated there were 60 or 70 motorcyclists wearing gang insignia.
A police spokesperson said they were not in a position to confirm if the arrest was gang-related.
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