A man who claims to be the owner of the Adelaide Chinatown tea shop at the centre of a dispute has taken to social media to tell his version of events.
Key points:
- A video which went viral last week shows a verbal dispute between a man and a woman who makes claims about wage theft
- A man who says he is the store owner has appeared in a new video responding to the allegations
- Protestors gathered on Saturday to call for a crackdown on wage theft in Adelaide
In an interview with a Chinese Australian YouTube user, the owner of Fun Tea responds to allegations raised in an earlier video that shows a young woman allegedly being assaulted.
The video, which went viral on social media last week, shows a verbal dispute between a man and the 22-year-old Rose Park woman, who makes claims about wage theft.
The man can be heard denying the claims.
The video then shows a different man stepping in and striking the woman in the face before kicking her to the ground.
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The video drew widespread outrage online, sparking a conversation about alleged wage theft among the international student community.
And demonstrators calling for a crackdown on wage theft rallied in Adelaide on Friday and Saturday.
The interview with YouTube user Edgar Lu — known online as Sydney Daddy — appears to have been filmed in the Gouger Street business where the altercation allegedly took place, and was published online on Monday.
It begins with the man, whose face has been blurred, revealing he was speaking out despite his lawyer advising him not to.
“I felt suffocated not being able to speak out,” the man says.
During the interview, Mr Lu raises some of the claims made by the woman in the original video.
“Was the $10 wage she mentioned a real thing?” Mr Lu asks.
He says he did not realise the video would have “such a big impact”.
“When this video first came out, I thought, ‘It’s not a big deal. It’s just something taken out of context.'”
He alleges one of the men who entered the store with the woman had been filming for eight to 10 minutes, and says he wondered why the vision posted on social media had been cut down to just under two minutes.
“The shooting lasted so long, why did they have to cut out the period when we started to talk about salary … ?” he said.
When Mr Lu asks if the man thinks he is “being set up”, the man says he does.
“I feel this way, it’s highly possible,” the man says.
The man also claims he had nothing to do with the alleged assault.
“… The guy who hit her really had nothing to do with you?” Mr Lu asks.
The wage theft allegations are being investigated by SafeWork SA and the FairWork Ombudsman.
Following the alleged assault, the woman was treated by paramedics at the scene, before being taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
SA Police later confirmed they were investigating the alleged assault.
They arrested a 39-year-old Glen Osmond man on Tuesday. He was granted bail and will appear in court in May.
