Unruly tourists speak out as deportation looms

The family at the centre of a storm after leaving rubbish at a popular New Zealand beach has spoken out for the first time.

The tourists at the centre of a storm after leaving rubbish on a New Zealand beach and abusing a local woman have spoken exclusively to the New Zealand Herald.

Among their counterclaims, according to the Herald, they say one of their children was assaulted at the beach and denied fleeing restaurants without paying for their meals.

John Johnson, his brother, David, as well as their partners and children, including a young baby, and mother Eileen Doran, of Liverpool, and father, say the social media furore which kicked off due to rubbish left on the beach has cut short their holiday and they’ll return home a week earlier than planned.

However, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has confirmed the group have been issued a deportation notice.

INZ assistant general manager Peter Devoy said Deportation Liability Notices (DLN) were served on individuals involved in the incident at Burger King in Hamilton today.

People on temporary visas can be served deportation notices relating to character.

Immigration officers advised the individuals of their appeal rights and provided the relevant documentation for them to appeal if they wanted to, Mr Devoy said.

Just hours after speaking to the Herald, the family were spoken to by police and immigration officers.

Unruly tourists speak out as deportation looms. Picture: Belinda Feek/NZ Herald

Police and immigration were called to Burger King, Te Rapa, Hamilton, by staff after alleged unruly behaviour by the family of travellers.

A staff member said they were at the store this morning causing a nuisance, complaining about and asking for free food. The children were also banging coins on the machines, as other guests looked on.

Staff said the group remained at the premises for quite some time before leaving and returning this afternoon.

Staff decided to call police after the group was walking through the drive-through.

Immigration staff were also at the scene, along with several detectives, speaking with the family.

Waikato Police said they were speaking with a number of members of the group in relation to incidents in Auckland.

Earlier today, family members spoke to the Herald and said the issue at the beach had been blown out of proportion. They also denied fleeing two Auckland restaurants without paying for their meals.

Instead, John Johnson said they come from a good family and his grandfather was the “10th richest man in England”.

Unruly tourists speak out as deportation looms. Picture: Belinda Feek/NZ Herald

The drama kicked off on Sunday after several family members were filmed leaving large amounts of their rubbish on Takapuna Beach. The tourists were videoed by local Krista Curnow as they left when Mr Johnson’s eight-year-old nephew was seen abusing the woman, and threatening to “knock your brains out”.

Ms Curnow said she asked the group to pick up their rubbish.

“About four or five ladies stood around me … in a half circle. They were saying they were going to hit me … and I started walking backwards to get out of it.

“Even grandma and the child got involved, saying they wanted to punch my head in.”

The incident had riled so many Kiwis a petition has even been launched to get the family kicked out of the country.

The Herald tracked the family down at a Hamilton hotel this morning.

While videoing four family members leaving a carpark, David Johnson asked the reporter why they were videoing and attempted to grab her phone. He was unsuccessful and covered his head as the videoing ensued and they sped off in their car.

Back at the hotel, John Johnson and his partner left shortly afterwards. John Johnson also took exception to being videoed, ripping the phone out of the reporter’s hand and deleting all footage before handing it back.

The tourist who gave his name as John Johnson. Picture: Supplied/NZ Herald

The rubbish left at Takapuna Beach. Picture: Supplied/NZ Herald

However he, along with his brother, mother and father, eventually agreed to speak about their ordeal.

John Johnson said it all kicked off when his eight-year-old nephew was “slapped” by another boy at the water’s edge while at the beach. After that, they claim they were abused, with people calling them “Irish scum” and had items thrown at them. Feeling intimidated, they left, inadvertently leaving their rubbish behind.

He said they didn’t intend for that to happen but they wanted to escape the group of people they felt was “circling them”.

David Johnson said his son was annoyed after being hit at the beach and then taunted. Seeing the camera sent him over the edge, he said.

“All he did was speak up for himself and everybody’s got every right to speak for themselves. It was absolutely ridiculous what happened (the assault) … we are a respectable family.”

He said they were just at the beach for a “family day out”.

“We were sitting there, and a little boy smacked one of the kids. They come over and start calling us loads of names; ‘Go back to Ireland.’ We’re sitting there having a meal and we’re relaxing.

“One of the guys got very violent to one of my friends and everybody got around us and we had no choice but to get up and leave and there was a mess there, because we couldn’t clean it up because we were badly intimidated by a group of people.”

Some of the group left but some family were still walking to the car when they were caught on the video.

According to the New Zealand Herald, some of the group have been served Deportation Liability Notices.

He said the woman who took the video can be heard saying, “Who is this f***ing little boy, swearing at him.”

“So there’s two sides to the story,” David Johnson said. “We did leave a mess and they’re saying we’re gypsies. We’re not gypsies. We’re English citizens and we were attacked on that beach, we left and they videoed the mess and then put it on Facebook; you see what I mean?”

He also said the family had never been to Australia after claims the family were the same Irish family who scammed people out of money across the ditch last year.

“People are trying to say we were in Australia. We were never in Australia. We come here for a holiday. We are not gypsies, we are not Irish.”

He said the rubbish that they left behind was “not the end of the world”.

“At the end of the day it’s not the end of the world, there was a bit of a mess left there but the reason why it was left there was because everyone was intimidated and forced to leave the beach.”

They were due to stay in New Zealand for two weeks but would now be going home on Friday, a week early.

“It ain’t very nice. We’re human beings like everybody else and it ain’t very nice what happened.”

English tourist, who gave his name as John Johnson, leaves an Auckland hotel on Monday afternoon bound for Hamilton. Picture: Jason Oxenham/NZ Herald

His younger brother John, who features in the video slapping his nephew over the head after making the threat, said he no longer felt comfortable in New Zealand.

“I’m no one famous. I’m just a fat kid from England on holiday. So when people are running up with their cameras and photo shoots and trying to ask questions, it frightened me … I felt very intimidated. What I’m baffled about is a bit of rubbish which realistically should never have happened.

“We have to go home early because the New Zealand people are treating my family like sh*t. We paid a lot of money to come here for a family holiday.”

He said one of their highlights of the trip was supposed to be a visit to Matamata to visit Hobbiton.

“We’re here to see the Hobbits … I’ve been looking at the Hobbits my whole life, since I’m born, that was originally what our plans was but it’s all been f***ed up now … I feel very unwelcome here. I feel like an alien invader, I don’t feel happy and I’m far from Irish.”

His father said he was “devastated by what’s going on”.

“I will never come to New Zealand again. I was frightened for my kids at the beach. There were people throwing things at us.”

This article originally appeared on the New Zealand Herald and was reproduced with permission