Wife pleads for answers over fatal brawl

Photo / Thinkstock

The grief-stricken wife of a Sydney man whose life support was switched off last night has pleaded for answers about a Kings Cross brawl that left her "perfect" husband seriously injured.

Raquel Duque told of her disbelief and suffering during a highly emotional appeal for information about the December 18 incident, from which Wilson Duque Castillo, 33, never recovered.

Nightclub bouncers from the Trademark Hotel - including former NRL player and boxer John Hopoate - were involved in an altercation with a group Duque Castillo was part of, police allege. But so far no one has been charged over the attack on Duque Castillo.

"Please if anyone did see anything ... we need you to come forward, we need to ... know what has happened," Duque said.

"Wilson was my partner of 10 years ... and the father of our 4-month-old son Dylan and I loved him very much. But now he has been taken away from me and there's a gap in my life, and in the life of our baby son that can never be filled. It's not fair, why did this have to happen?"

Duque Castillo's mother, Aida, who recently arrived in Australia from Colombia with her husband, was led out of the Sydney press conference in a distraught state. He has been in intensive care at St Vincent's Hospital since the alleged assault and never regained consciousness. The ABC reported that his life support was switched off last night.

Duque Castillo had been refused entry to the Trademark Hotel with his brother, Wilmer, 27, and a male friend, when bouncers allegedly chased them along Bayswater Rd. The incident finished up in nearby Darlinghurst Rd, where Duque Castillo and his brother both suffered injuries.

Hopoate was arrested on December 19 and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and affray. Those charges relate to the assault of Duque Castillo's brother, who was treated for facial injuries before being released from hospital.

Police are appealing for witnesses to help them to piece together what took place, and lay charges over the second assault. Kings Cross Superintendent Tony Crandell said the person responsible was facing possible manslaughter or murder charges.

- AAP