Melissa Cuadro, who’s lived here for seven years after emigrating from Peru, says she’s determined to deny the "haters" after she was allegedly punched three times by a Canterbury man in a random assault early on May 10.
She and a female friend were walking through the Skyline Arcade, between Queenstown Mall and Cow Lane, about 12.30am when they encountered about 10 people blocking their way.
When she said "excuse me" and looked to pass by, members of the group began jostling and roughing them up, she says.
She alleges one of the men grabbed her arm while a woman pulled her hair, and although she managed to pull away, she saw her friend being hassled by others in the group.
As she went to extricate her friend, Cuadro says another man repeatedly shoved her against the mall’s glass shopfronts.
Heavily built and a head taller than her 160cm, he then allegedly punched her in the side of the face, struck her twicemore on the back of the neck, then threw her to the footpath.
Another woman then piled in, she says, grabbing her leg and dragging her along the ground before kicking her multiple times to the body.
Cuadro says the rest of the group just stood there "watching and laughing" before the pair managed to get away.
Her alleged main attacker, who’d apparently stayed near the scene of the assault to argue with a bouncer outside a nearby bar, was arrested when police arrived.
He appeared in Queenstown’s court on May 12 on a charge of male assaults female, and is expected back in court on June 16.
Cuadro, who went to hospital for treatment later that day, says the blows to her head and neck aggravated a concussion injury she’d suffered in an accident only weeks earlier, and she still has bruising, scratches and grazes all over her body.
Her doctor’s ordered her to take three weeks off work, and she’s worried she might need more time to recover.
She’s suffering persistent headaches, struggling to process information, and is having counselling to help deal with the experience.
Having only recently started a new job, she feels bad about letting down her employer.
However, she says her trauma is a "momentary feeling", and the experience will only make her stronger.
She had left South America because she didn’t feel safe there, and decided to stay in Queenstown after making a "beautiful group of friends".
She’s witnessed violence in the CBD before, but has always felt safe, even at night after socialising or finishing hospo shifts.
Although surprised only one of the group is facing charges, she hopes justice will prevail and "be a lesson for all his friends".
She wonders if they took exception to her and her friend speaking Spanish to each other just before the encounter.
Cuadro says she posted an online video last week to express her solidarity with others in Queenstown who’ve been victims of random violence.
"Nobody should go through this level of brutality.
"We shouldn’t have to be afraid of people who are unhappy in their lives."
However, she hasn’t given up on the resort town.
"This place is still like paradise — a beautiful, multicultural town."
