Steven Mawhinney suffered cuts and bruises The man who attacked a Wellington gay bar manager has pleaded guilty to assault and will be sentenced in March. Adrian Alf Sherman, 23, was arrested after Ivy manager Steven Mawhinney was punched a number of times on the night of 22 August, when he’d asked a group of men to leave the venue. Mawhinney says they’d been arguing with customers and using homophobic slurs when they realised they were in a gay bar. He was assaulted when he stepped in as one of the men “went to go at” one of his customers, and says he received “seven to eight good belts to the head”. “To be honest, I’m 30 now and I’ve been out since I was 17. This is the worst thing I have seen in my life. The hatred. That’s the only way I could describe the way these guys were. They had pure hatred for anyone that they presumed to be gay.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 10th February 2015 - 3:06pm