Three stabbed in tavern fight

Press, 1 July 1983, Page 4

Three stabbed in tavern fight

At least two patrons and a security guard were stabbed at the Marine Tavern, Sumner, last evening when a fight erupted in the tavern’s public bar. The fight, which started about 9 p.m., involved about 30 people, half of those members of a gang, said the tavern’s manager, Mr Ken

Sheard. One of the tavern’s two security guards was taken to hospital with a stab wound to the shoulder.

All the other people injured were local people who regularly drank at the Marine Tavern, said Mr Sheard.

The gang members were

not wearing any form of identification and staff at the tavern had not known they were gang members until after the police arrived.

“If we had known, they would never have got into the bar,” said Mr Sheard. “Gang members are not welcome at the Marine.”

Mr Sheard said the guard had been present when the fight started and had been inured trying to stop it. The fight had stopped just as the police arrived, he said. None of the injured had been seriously hurt. The gang members had recently rented a house in Sumner.

“I think they came looking for trouble. The local people are a very good lot,’ said Mr Sheard.

There had been no serious trouble at the tavern for the last 18 months, he said. The police were interviewing witnesses of the fight early this morning.