A heated dispute over political hoardings at a petrol station boiled over into violence when a local council candidate was allegedly headbutted by a rival’s husband.
Police are investigating the alleged assault on Saturday afternoon outside GAS Pōkeno.
Fabio Rodrigues, a 19-year-old petrol station worker who moved to Waikato aged 8 from South Africa, is running for a seat in the Waikato District Council’s Tuakau-Pōkeno General Ward.
Rodrigues said his relationship with rival candidate Bronwyn Heath has soured throughout the campaign.
Heath, a “proud local” who started the area’s pickleball group and is also from South Africa, says it has been a difficult race for office.
The tensions came to a head outside GAS Pōkeno while Rodrigues was working a shift.
Rodrigues said he’d sought approval from the landowner to erect his hoardings at the site, but claimed Heath had “absolutely no permission” to put her signs there.
When Heath arrived with her husband to place signs beneath his, Rodrigues claims a “back and forth” argument ensued.
Heath told the Herald she did have permission, and when the couple arrived to put up her sign, she said Rodrigues came out from the petrol station and accosted the couple in an allegedly “highly aggressive confrontational manner”.
“Instead of returning to the GAS station, he continued to relentlessly harass me to stop me from getting the sign up,” Heath claimed in an emailed statement.
She claims he was repeatedly asked to back off, but wouldn’t - an accusation that Rodrigues denies.
CCTV video provided to the Herald shows an exchange between Rodrigues and an older man who drops something to the ground before his head appears to make contact with the 19-year-old candidate.
Heath did not directly address the headbutting claim in her statement and did not respond to specific subsequent questions about it.
Heath said her husband, who she describes as a “67-year-old man with medical issues”, was acting in “self defence” and was “fearful for our safety”.
“My husband was convinced Fabio was going to assault me and reacted,” she claimed.
Rodrigues - who denied his rival candidate’s version of events - earlier said Heath’s husband began bleeding from his forehead, before the couple left the scene.
Rodrigues said he immediately called the police, who confirmed they attended the scene.
“Police were called to a commercial premises on Great South Rd, Pōkeno, about 1.40pm after a report of an assault,” a police spokeswoman said.
“There were no injuries. Police are working to speak to all parties involved.”
But Rodrigues said he has been left feeling shocked, scared and dizzy, and claimed he had to be checked out by a friend who is a doctor.
“I’m 19-years-old for God’s sake, I’m just trying to make the betterment of the community.”
Heath claimed she has been repeatedly targeted online by Rodrigues and his family throughout the campaign.
“It is unbelievable to see how this is being used to promote Fabio as a victim when it is my husband and I who have once again been the victim of his endless attempts to prevent me from running a clear and successful campaign.”
She would not elaborate on what specifically this has involved, referring back to her initial statement.
“I told you my story,” she said.
Rodrigues flatly denied he had ever harassed or abused her online, saying they used to be friends, as they’re both South Africans.
“I don’t know what she’s talking about,” he said.
“I’ve never said anything publicly against her.”