{"id":329820,"date":"2026-03-14T20:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T20:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/329820\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T20:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T20:14:08","slug":"braden-jane-discharged-without-conviction-after-arrowtown-bar-assault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/329820\/","title":{"rendered":"Braden Jane discharged without conviction after Arrowtown bar assault"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere needs to be a message that violence in Queenstown will not be tolerated,\u201d the judge said at the hearing. <\/p>\n

Mat Woods, chief executive of Destination Queenstown and Lake W\u0101naka Tourism, shared the judge\u2019s concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cViolence is not acceptable in our community,\u201d he told NZME.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncidents like this are always concerning.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hospitality sector works hard alongside police, licensing authorities and the wider community to promote responsible behaviour and ensure the town remains a safe place for residents and visitors alike.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DestinationDestination Queenstown chief executive Mat Woods says violence is not acceptable in the community. Photo \/ Otago Daily Times<\/p>\n

A number of violent incidents involving alcohol had taken place over the past year in the city. <\/p>\n

Those included an assault on Ballarat St in the early hours of New Year\u2019s Day<\/a>, which police are still investigating. <\/p>\n

In September last year, an Australian tourist celebrating his 30th birthday smashed a glass in his victim\u2019s face after they commented on his height. <\/p>\n

In May, a man was punched in an unprovoked attack in the city centre. Police learnt of the incident while investigating a separate assault moments before in a popular bar. <\/p>\n

At Jane\u2019s hearing this week, the court heard he had attended a wedding in the Gibbston Valley area on December 21, 2025.<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice released CCTV images of Braden Jane after the assault. <\/p>\n

The wedding party later moved to the Fork and Tap pub in Arrowtown.<\/p>\n

Shortly after 10pm, as Jane, his fiancee and a group of friends were leaving, the victim was standing outside the bar.<\/a><\/p>\n

Jane had gone to the toilet and when he returned, he claimed to have heard offensive things being said to his fiancee.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said there were some threats being made, he told police he got angry and rushed forward,\u201d defence lawyer Bill Dawkins submitted in court.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe walked up two steps and hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a case of, really, a rush of blood.\u201d<\/p>\n

The closed-fist punch connected with the victim\u2019s mouth, causing him to fall backwards, knocking him unconscious.<\/p>\n

Jane then left the scene.<\/p>\n

The victim, who was studying at the University of Otago, had returned home to Arrowtown for the summer and had been working at a local golf course.<\/p>\n

He was taken to hospital, where he received stitches for a split lip and had a CT scan, which showed no further signs of damage. <\/p>\n

In his victim impact statement, he said he suffered the \u201cmost brutal\u201d headache he\u2019d ever had.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t know you, has never met you and says he does not know why you hit him with what he describes as a \u2018coward\u2019s punch\u2019,\u201d Judge Williams told Jane of the victim.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a moment of anger, you said it was as simple as that.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou would have been guilty of manslaughter if the person had died.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police circulated a CCTV image of Jane after the incident.<\/a><\/p>\n

Jane then approached his lawyer before going to the police. He was charged with injuring with intent to injure.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe attack took place outside the Fork and Tap pub in Arrowtown. Image \/ Google<\/p>\n

The court heard Jane had apologised to the victim in writing. He was remorseful and was grateful the victim was not seriously injured.<\/p>\n

The victim, who was not in court, was \u201cneutral\u201d about Jane\u2019s application to be discharged without conviction, Dawkins and police prosecutor Dan Andrews said.<\/p>\n

Jane was planning to move to Australia with his fiancee and worked for an international company as a project manager, which required extensive travel overseas. A conviction would likely end in him losing his job, Judge Williams said.<\/p>\n

He also said Jane suffered \u201cmedia scrutiny\u201d after the incident as his image was circulated online.<\/p>\n

Because of his clean record, the risk to his job and the unlikelihood Jane would reoffend, Judge Williams granted the discharge without conviction application.<\/p>\n

However, Jane was ordered to pay the victim $5000 in emotional harm reparation.<\/p>\n

Brianna McIlraith is a Queenstown-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the lower South Island. She has been a journalist since 2018 and has had a strong interest in business and financial journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThere needs to be a message that violence in Queenstown will not be tolerated,\u201d the judge said at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[33914,74,79984,17704,17181,4250,31470,15970,15969,20836,5503,4505,111,139,69,14727,21532,213,67355,1316,1339],"class_list":["post-329820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-19yearold","tag-after","tag-arrowtown","tag-assault","tag-bar","tag-blood","tag-braden","tag-conviction","tag-discharged","tag-jane","tag-knocked","tag-moment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-outside","tag-rush","tag-sports","tag-unconscious","tag-when","tag-without"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}