NZ resident finds herself a target of racist abuse

Alonso-Gonzalez and McDermott. Photo / David Alexander

A child cancer researcher camping on conservation land says she was terrorised by racist partygoers.

Police issued a warning to one man after the woman suffered a tirade of abuse.

Lucia Alonso-Gonzalez was born in Spain but has lived in New Zealand for five years and has permanent residency. She and her partner Alan McDermott had pitched their tent at the Piano Flat camp in Southland, about 70m from a large group of families.

There were up to a dozen adults and about eight kids.

"We were talking to the children and playing with the dogs in a friendly way," said Alonso-Gonzalez. "They seemed nice enough."

The couple went for a walk and when they returned hours later the adults were drinking and playing loud music.

At 9.30pm Alonso-Gonzalez asked them to keep it down, but was ignored.

"They were really drunk - they had been drinking the whole evening," she said.

At midnight she tried again: " They started screaming at me. They said, 'We're real Kiwis here - we've been here for longer than you. Come back when you're a real Kiwi'."

She said the group called her a "b***" and to "f*** off".

She went back to her tent and told McDermott, who went to speak to the group and was also abused.

The couple did not feel safe so packed up in the dark and drove 48km south to Riversdale, where they slept the night of December 29 in their car with their dog.

Southland Department of Conservation officer Kelwyn Osborn said the issue was a police matter.

Gore sergeant Sharee Winsloe said a Riversdale constable warned a man about his actions. She said DoC had been liaising with police to minimise any further occurrences.