Backpackers face jail for 'vicious' assault

Two foreign backpackers face jail for what a judge described yesterday as a "vicious" assault.

Dutchman Frank Johan Stoel, 21, and Jesper Moe Jensen, 20, a Danish national, appeared before Judge Kevin Phillips in Queenstown District Court jointly accused of assault with intent to injure in the early hours of yesterday.

Sergeant Ian Collin told the court the male victim was walking on Shotover St at 4.17am when an argument started as Stoel approached, The Southland Times reported.

Stoel charged forward and punched and kicked the victim. Jensen joined in and also punched him.

The victim fell to the ground where he was kicked in the chest and punched several times more in the head before Stoel aimed six full-armed swings at him.

Jensen later told police the victim "pissed him off".

Judge Phillips convicted the pair and remanded them for sentencing on April 18.

"It appears to me a term of imprisonment is inevitable," he told the pair.

"This is serious street violence, a vicious assault using feet while a man is on the ground."

The men were bailed to Base Backpackers, subject to an 8pm to 6am curfew, ordered not to buy alcohol or consume illicit drugs and to surrender their passports.

- NZPA