Furore at fish and chip shop

THE OWNER of a North Dunedin takeaway institution has described watching in horror as an enraged customer smashed in her door yesterday afternoon.

The Flying Squid owner Yanzhen Chen said the man entered the Albany St shop, across the road from the University of Otago, about 3pm before ordering some shoestring chips.

Shortly after, a group of about 10 young people she believed to be students entered her premises.

At this point the customer, who she described as a Maori man in his 50s or 60s with long, black and curly hair, became extremely agitated.

‘‘When he saw the students he became really angry.’’

‘‘He was yelling ‘. . . white people’.’’

Ms Chen said the man went to leave the shop and one of the young customers moved to close the door.

At this point, the man kicked and smashed the thick glass window at the bottom of the door.

Ms Chen, who has owned the studentfavourite takeaway for 17 years, said the man had only started coming to the store this year.

She described a ‘‘horrible smell’’ of alcohol emanating from him.

‘‘All the time, he’s drinking.’’ There were no CCTV cameras in her store but she was confident footage of the man would have been captured by the University of Otago’s cameras and she understood he lived nearby.

She was fearful the man would return and had been advised by police to take a photo if he again entered her shop.

A police spokeswoman said they had received a report shortly after 3.30pm of wilful damage.

As of last night the man had not been arrested, she said.