'I thought I was going to die': Kiwi reporter 'bashed' in homophobic attack

Aziz Al-Sa'afin: I got beaten up on K' Road for being gay. Photo / Newshub

Kiwi Newshub reporter Aziz Al-Sa'afin was viciously beaten at the weekend in a homophobic attack which left him thinking he "was going to die".

Speaking on The AM Show this morning, Al-Sa'afin described his night out with friends on K' Road celebrating Pride Week. He said: "I thought it would be one of my safest places."

They were approached by two or three men at the Mobil station who at first made polite conversation, and then "before I knew it, my friend was on the ground getting bashed… pulverised".

"Then as I was walking towards him I got decked in my left eye. I got shoved back and I was still trying to make sense of the situation and as I was falling back I could just see my friend absolutely getting pulverised on the ground. Getting kicked in the stomach punched in the face. He was trying to protect (his head), he was in a fetal position," he said.

"Then another fist made contact with the right side of my jaw… they were yelling out 'fags, homos, you're going to hell.' I lost vision and sight and I had no idea where I was. I actually thought, and I don't say this lightly, but I thought I was going to die in that moment. It was a place I don't think my mind has ever been before."

There were three witnesses who saw the incident unfold and helped Al-Sa'afin to find his friend who had run away.

His friend had found Aziz's lost phone and managed to find his way back to his house and saw, "one side of his (friend's) face is blue and he has a chipped tooth."

Aziz went to the police yesterday and said: "They were amazing".

"Officer John, Officer Lee and Officer Murray, John said to me 'this is the first time I've actually personally dealt with a case like this before of homophobia', and I said 'why?' and he said 'people are too afraid to come forward, they are just too afraid to be judged, even still, to this day."

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