Guard keeps licence after strip club assault

A bouncer who pushed a patron down two flights of stairs at a Christchurch strip club remains licensed to work as a security guard despite being convicted of assault.

Alfonso Blakelock was sentenced to 150 hours’ community work and 12 months’ supervision after pleading guilty to assault with intent to injure. The charge related to an incident at Calendar Girls where Blakelock assaulted a man early on November 16 last year.

Blakelock had asked the victim and an associate to leave the strip club, and escorted them to the top of the flight of stairs. When the victim moved too slowly, Blakelock punched him in the face, then pushed him down the stairs.

He continued the assault until he was eventually restrained by another staff member. The victim suffered cuts and bruising to his face and chest, as well as headaches and dizziness.

During sentencing, a District Court judge acknowledged there was ‘‘a very real prospect’’ that Blakelock’s security licence could be cancelled, but that would not be a consequence out of all proportion to the gravity of the offending.

Blakelock then filed a High Court appeal to be discharged without conviction, but this was refused.

Blakelock was working for October Protection at the time of the assault. Calendar Girls terminated its contract with October Protection after another unrelated assault at the club in June.

October Protection chief executive Matt Wood declined to comment on whether Blakelock was still working for the company.

Blakelock is still licensed with the Private Security Personnel Licensing Authority (PSPLA) to work as a security guard. His licence was granted in February last year, before the assault happened, and is set to expire in February 2023.

The Private Security Personnel and Private Investigators Act lists being

Alfonso Blakelock was convicted of assault after pushing a patron down two flights of stairs while working as a security contractor at Calendar Girls. convicted of a violent offence in the preceding seven years as grounds for disqualifying a person’s licence.

PSPLA tribunals unit case manager Mona Hannouche said the authority checked the criminal history of anyone applying for a security licence or certificate, but did not get an automatic notification from the courts or police if a person was convicted later.

‘‘If the police consider the circumstances of the offending to be sufficient to consider the cancellation of a person’s licence or certificate, they will file a complaint with the PSPLA.’’

If a complaint was filed, the authority would usually hold a hearing to decide if the licence or certificate should be cancelled.