A 31-year-old Canterbury man faces two assault-with-intent-to-injure charges over an incident in which a man was knocked to the ground and kicked in the head on Rees Street in central Queenstown early on Sunday.

Constable Amanda Shute told the Lakes Weekly Bulletin police were called at about 1am on Sunday 1 November. The victim was allegedly punched twice in the face, the second blow putting him on the ground, and then kicked twice in the head before the attacker ran off. Officers followed the man to a bar and arrested him there.

The accused made his first appearance before the Queenstown court on Monday and was bailed to return on 11 November. He has not been named.

It was one of a string of incidents over the Halloween weekend reported in the Bulletin's weekly police column on Thursday.

At about 2am on Tuesday 3 November a dispute between two groups in Cow Lane turned physical. Police said they tracked down and arrested the person they regarded as having started it, while a Canterbury man, 26, received a formal written warning.

On Saturday evening, 31 October, officers stopped a moped on Suburb Street after two people in Halloween costumes were allegedly seen riding it without helmets. The rider, 24, allegedly returned a breath-alcohol reading of 530 micrograms and faces an excess breath alcohol charge. The legal limit for adult drivers is 250 micrograms.

The following evening, after a complaint about a driver on Kingston Road near Kawarau Falls, a Queenstown man aged 23 allegedly returned a reading of 863 micrograms, more than three times the limit. His court date is 20 November.

Police also executed a search warrant at a local man's address on Thursday 29 October. The 40-year-old is charged with shoplifting on three occasions, two involving goods under $500 and one under $2000, as well as dishonestly using a document and receiving stolen property.

The column also updated the fatal two-vehicle crash in the Kawarau Gorge on 30 October, saying police were making enquiries for the coroner and that a Givealittle page for the family of the woman who died had passed $21,000.

Queenstown's bars and streets draw large numbers of Southlanders, particularly on long weekends and during the ski and summer seasons, and the Queenstown District Court regularly deals with visitors from Invercargill and the wider region.

All of those charged are entitled to the presumption of innocence and none has yet entered a plea on the published record. Anyone with information about the Rees Street assault can contact police on 105.