Scots couple to flee Wellington violence

Press, 26 January 1988, Page 18

Scots couple to flee Wellington violence

PA Wellington A series of violent attacks has driven a Scottish couple who came to settle in Wellington four months ago to pack their bags and return home. Bert Edmond, aged 33, and his fiancee,. Alison Duguid, aged 26, came from Aberdeen in August after Mr Edmond’s brother offered him a panelbeating job in Wellington. Since then the couple have had a gun pointed in their faces on their way to a movie, Miss Duguid has been accosted and harassed by a man in Mt Victoria, and on Friday evening Mr Edmond was beaten up and robbed in a pub.

Mr Edmond said he imagined New Zealand to be “a land of milk and honey” before he arrived but he would now prefer to rough it in Aberdeen

with no prospects, rather than risk it in Wellington. “Aberdeen has a fair amount of violence but not muggings like this,” he said.

The first incident happened soon after they arrived, while staying at Mr Edmond’s brother’s house in Mt Victoria. Miss Duguid was accosted and harassed by a man. in Hawker Street.

At Labour Day weekend a young man wielding a pistol in Courtenay Place grabbed Miss Duguid by the arm and pointed the pistol in her and Mr Edmond’s faces before running off. They were not sure the gun was real . but the man was being “minded” by a friend who apologised, saying the man was an idiot. Neither incident was reported to the police.

The latest incident hap-

pened in the public bar toilets of the Prince of Wales Hotel on Friday at 9.30 p.m. Four men demanded money from Mr Edmond, who refused.

Two of them then beat him up and robbed him of a gold chain, leaving him nursing a badly swollen lip, a black eye and cuts to his head.

Mr Edmond said they decided not to renew their work permits. They would fly home on February 25 and were leaving with mixed feelings. “It’s a beautiful country and we’ve enjoyed our holidays. But it’s more dangerous and violent than Aberdeen. You’re always reading about rapes and muggings,” he said. “I’ve stayed in Birmingham and Glasgow and nothing like this happened. Alison says you’d' be safer walking the streets of London.”