Restore Passenger Rail protester charged with assault after spray paint incident

Police rushed to the scene after the car dealership was sprayed with red paint on Thursday. Photo / Mark Mitchell

A Restore Passenger Rail protester has been charged with assault after an incident where a luxury car dealership in Wellington was spray-painted with red paint.

Gazley Motors’ Myles Gazley told NZME that his brother, Oliver Gazley, was sprayed “head to toe” with the paint himself.

Oliver Gazley is the father of Jemima Gazley, the Wellington teen who died of an inoperable brain cancer in 2021, after capturing the hearts of New Zealand - spending her final weeks raising money for a cure she would not live to see.

Police rushed to Wellington’s Cambridge Terrace yesterday, where two people from the climate action group Restore Passenger Rail had allegedly sprayed Gazley Motors with red paint and glued themselves to the footpath in front of the dealership.

A spokesman from Restore Passenger Rail said at the time they wanted “to illustrate the choice this election between luxury emissions and a livable future”.

Paint is washed off Gazley Motors after a spray paint incident on Thursday. Photo / Mark Mitchell

“The obscenely rich are lobbying against us having sustainable transport systems and are turbocharging the climate crisis with more motorways and more luxury emissions,” said spokesman James Cockle.

Gazley Motors managing director Myles Gazley told the Herald his brother Oliver had been sprayed “head to toe” in the paint as he came out to see why they were spraying the building.

Gazley said it was “unbelievable” and he didn’t understand why his dealership had been targeted.

“If they wanna Restore Passenger Rail, they should go to the railway station maybe - not sure why they’re spraying the building when half the cars are electric.”

Two of the group, Magdalena Vith, 23, and Peter Wham, 61, appeared in the Wellington District Court this morning, where they were remanded on bail without plea.

Both were charged with intentional damage of the property - owned by Oliver Gazley - and Wham was also charged with assaulting Gazley.

The latest action comes after three consecutive weeks of protest as protesters block various roads across the capital.

Three protesters have been remanded without bail, including Rosemary Penwarden, 64, who was arrested last month and charged with endangering transport after attaching her hand to State Highway 1 in Kilbirnie.

On Tuesday, Restore Passenger Rail gathered outside the High Court with a makeshift cage as Penwarden appealed her bail. She was released on electronically monitored bail.

The makeshift structure was directly outside the courthouse, with pictures of the three protesters remanded in custody leaning up against it, labelling them climate “protectors”.

People also set up signs inside reading “free the three”.

Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.