Man in court charged with assault at Wellington’s Peachy Keen festival

A man accused of assaulting two security guards at the female-focused Peachy Keen festival in Wellington has appeared in court.

The man was charged with two counts of common assault when he appeared in the Wellington District Court this morning.

Organisers of the Easter music festival allege the guards were spat on, sworn at and kicked by the man on Saturday night.

Police arrested the man during the festival, held at the Basin Reserve in Wellington.

At his appearance in court today he entered not guilty pleas to the charges and was remanded on bail to reappear next month.

He was granted interim name suppression.

Peachy Keen was pitched as Wellington’s first female-led and focused festival that was created to celebrate women in music.

The line-up included Benee, Gin Wigmore, Ladi6 and The Beths.

Peachy Keen posted on the festival’s Facebook page this afternoon they were extremely saddened to hear of the alleged assaults.

They said they never thought something like this would happen at Peachy Keen.

“We built this festival because of a lack of comfort at other festivals we have attended around the world.

“This sort of behaviour is completely unacceptable and we will continue to work as hard as we can to build events where everyone feels safe, secure and comfortable at; and enjoy their time while in our care.”

Organisers said police responded within minutes of their call reporting the man.

They said their first priority was removing him from the festival to ensure the safety of event goers, followed by locating the people involved.

Organisers said they have a photo of the man, but rather than posting the image online, they invited anyone who may have been in contact with him to get in touch with them directly.

“Supporting anyone who felt in any way uncomfortable at our event is very important to us and we want to help where we can.”

Anyone who believes they have information that could assist police with ongoing inquiries is encouraged to contact them via 105 and quote event number P046047162.

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