Pool spat 'racially motivated'

Sarai Tepou.

Woman told to leave facility says she will complain to commissioner but management says it was a mistake.

A woman who was ordered to leave an Auckland swimming pool complex at the weekend says she will complain to the Race Relations Commissioner, claiming the incident was racially motivated.

However, a director of the pool where the incident occurred - Olympic Pool and Fitness Centre in Newmarket - said the trespassing order was mistakenly issued to the woman and was not racially motivated.

On TV One's One News last night, Sarai Tepou, a midwife, said she would complain to the commissioner, Dame Susan Devoy.

Auckland Council, which owns the pool but leases it to a private operating company, said it was aware of the incident and had asked the operator to provide a report.

Pool company director Rob Nikkel said two women came to the pool with children that weekend and a staff member "identified one of the women as a person of interest to the police for an ongoing investigation they have".

"Staff had been contacted by police over last week and told staff that if the person returned to the pool to contact the police."

A staff member had identified one of the women by an image taken on the centre's CCTV system.

"One of those ladies did come into the centre and was accompanied by the lady that's made the complaint.

"She has made a bold claim that it was racially motivated intervention on poolside, which it categorically was not.

"The staff were just responding to a request they believed the police had asked for and the pool supervisor on the deck at the time made the call to trespass them both from the facility under suspicion of various activities.

"That happened and it may well be that the person who made the complaint to television was caught up inadvertently in this procedure and we have said that if that is the case we are very sorry and we want to lift the ban on that and put things right."

Mr Nikkel said he wanted to apologise in person to Ms Tepou.

He said the police would not comment to him about their investigation.

Pool facilities were prone to property theft and there had been "a fair spate going on in recent times. But we do not want to implicate the person who appeared on the news".

Auckland Council Leisure manager Rob McGee said: "We are aware that there was an incident at Newmarket Olympic Pool on the weekend and have asked the operator to provide us with a report on the situation.

"We understand that they are still carrying out this investigation and trying to contact the staff who were on duty at the time and the police who were involved.

"Council owns the building but is not involved in the day-to-day running of the facility. The site is operated under a lease arrangement."

Meanwhile, Dame Susan has thanked a young Hamilton woman for going public about being subjected to racial stereotyping by store workers in her home town.

"Sadly what happened to Rikki Cooper isn't new but it highlights something that's faced every day by everyday people."