Traveller arrested in tiny town of Punakaiki after allegedly attacking road signs and abusing locals following almost a week without a ride

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A Frenchman has gone on a frustrated rampage in a tiny New Zealand fishing village after he spent four days waiting for a hitchhiking ride.

The 27-year-old Frenchman arrived in the west coast settlement of Punakaiki, home to just 70-full-time residents, late last week.

According to New Zealand police the man spent four days attempting to hitchhike south.

On the fourth day after no one had picked him up he went “berserk”, allegedly attacking the Welcome to Punakaiki sign with a rock, abusing motorists and throwing other road signs into the local river.

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“Oh he threw an absolute hissy fit; he was lying prone on the road screaming that New Zealanders were assholes and he couldn’t wait to get back to Europe,” says local Neil Mouat, who eventually called police after an elderly fisherman “had words” with him, and Mouat feared the altercation could turn violent.

“He was a spoilt millennial, and he created a hell of a din. But all that time he was standing in the wrong place to hitchhike – a corner with poor visibility and nowhere for cars to easily pull over.”

West coast senior sergeant Paul Watson said the man had been hitchhiking around New Zealand for some time and become “enraged” when his travels abruptly halted in the minute settlement of Punakaiki, which has no grocer or corner shop and only basic public facilities.



“That road sees a bit of traffic but this man had no joy, I suspect because of his aggressive behaviour. He also told us he hadn’t eaten for two days so that could have contributed to him losing the plot.”

Punakaiki is only 44km north of the established west coast town of Greymouth.

Watson estimates the man could have reached Greymouth in a day’s walk and been halfway down the west coast in four days.

“Hitchhiking is totally legal and travellers usually have no problem hitching lifts around here. It is rare to see anyone waiting for long, and I have never heard of someone waiting four days. This case is an outlier,” said Watson.

The man has been charged with wilful damage and his passport has been confiscated. He is now out on bail.

