KEY POINTS:
Hawke's Bay millionaire merchant banker Sam Kelt faces an assault charge after being removed from a bar during his staff Christmas party.
Kelt was originally charged with trespass after being asked to leave Havelock North's Diva Bar on December 18.
Now Kelt also face a charge of assaulting the bar's duty manager Daniel Spiers.
Hastings area police commander Inspector Dean Clifford confirmed the charges related to the same incident.
Kelt yesterday denied the charges, which he said he would be "vigorously defending".
"I did not trespass and I did not assault anybody," he told The Dominion Post.
He said he was standing on a public accessway outside the bar after being asked to leave, and did not trespass because he did not return inside the premises.
Kelt and staff from his merchant bank, Kelt Capital, had been at the bar after a lunch at Cape Kidnappers Lodge.
Witnesses saw him being handcuffed and put in a police car.
Kelt said in December that there had been an altercation between people in his party, but he was not involved.
Kelt has been remanded on bail to appear in Hastings District Court tomorrow.
Kelt sponsors New Zealand's richest horse race, the $2 million Kelt Capital Stakes, run in Hastings each year.
- NZPA
