Bar disputes beauty blogger's attack claims

Sally Jo Hickey's claims of being verbally abused at Napier's Thirsty Whale are being disputed by its owner. PHOTO/ FILE

A beauty blogger's claims of being attacked in a Napier bar is being disputed by the bar owners.

Thirsty Whale owner Chris Sullivan said he had no knowledge of an incident she spoke about on her YouTube channel to more than 100,000 followers.

In a video by Sally Jo Hickey, the daughter of former TVNZ weatherman Jim Hickey, said she was verbally abused and had a glass smashed on her head by a "viewer" in the Thirsty Whale bar during her first visit to Napier.

Hickey was on the bar's deck, mid-photo with a fan, when a woman screamed her name.

"They sounded really aggro, then next minute, whack!" she said in her video. "I looked down and there was glass all over me. I'm actually, like, panicking reliving it."

The beauty blogger said she had glass in her hair and in her shoe, and the security guards' attention was elsewhere. The woman, she said, screamed: "Who do you think you are coming in here?"

Mr Sullivan disputes the incident. No complaint has been made to police either.

Yesterday he told Hawke's Bay Today the claim was a "great way to get attention" three months after the incident was said to have taken place.

"Attention seeking," he said.

On Sunday, Mr Sullivan tweeted Ms Hickey: "I suggest it's untrue just you looking for headlines in Woman's Day".

She replied: "I'm very sorry for any negative impact this has had on your club, at the end of the day it was the attacker at fault + not you".

Ms Hickey also wrote to Mr Sullivan: "I haven't talked to any journalists, didn't want articles published. Am regretting mentioning the incident at all."

A representative for Ms Hickey said she would not comment as she did not want any more media coverage of the incident.

Yesterday she tweeted: "Wishing I lived under a rock right now".