Wellington man takes up self-defence training after random assault by restaurant worker

Logan Rasmussen said he still regularly goes to the Southern Cross for drinks and coffees. Photo / Melissa Nightingale

A man left bruised and bloodied after a random, unprovoked attack in a Wellington restaurant says police should offer self defence classes to assault victims.

Logan Rasmussen had been inside the Southern Cross Bar and Restaurant for less than a minute when a staff member he had never met before attacked him out of the blue.

"I thought he was just going to walk past me ... suddenly he hit me in the side of the head," Rasmussen said.

He had walked into the restaurant to look for a client he was meeting with, but moments after entering he was subjected to the brutal beating, in which he was punched seven or eight times as he knelt on the ground losing his vision.

Logan Rasmussen was the victim of a random attack moments after walking into a Wellington restaurant. Photo / Supplied

"He just kept punching me in the face.

"It wasn't too long before several staff members came and pulled the guy off."

Rasmussen's tooth had gone through his lip, and he was covered in blood.

A manager who looked at security camera footage afterwards said there was "no rhyme or reason" to the attack.

"It really took us all by surprise," he said.

Rasmussen's attacker, 24-year-old Santiago Gabriel Hernandez Pepe, was found not guilty by way on insanity in the Wellington District Court this week.

Hernandez Pepe, who is in New Zealand on a work visa, had been charged with assault with intent to injure after the attack on June 30.

On Monday a judge acquitted him and handed down a compulsory treatment order.

In the weeks after the assault, Rasmussen said he would flinch when walking past people on the street, never sure if someone was about to attack, though he no longer had this reaction.

He has had "very little support" since the offending, but has taken up classes at Wellington's Tactical Survival Krav Maga Academy to learn how to protect himself.

"I was in a pretty bad space after the attack, but the practical skills gained, along with the community aspect and motivation from the TSKM teachers was much needed."

Had he attended the classes before the attack he could have easily minimised the injury he suffered, he said.

After the assault he lost the ability to do full-time work and ended up spending three weeks on ACC recovering.

"Funnily enough" Rasmussen still regularly goes to Southern Cross - Hernandez Pepe no longer works there.

He said it was "great" the court spent so much effort making a decision to look after his attacker's mental health, but he wished more was done for victims.

Rasmussen said instantly offering self defence classes for assault victims was something that would "actually help".

"The only way any of us could be safe from such an attack is to have awareness and ability to defend ourselves effectively.

"You've got to look at the bigger picture. The attack wasn't so bad - everything else that followed sucked."