Charlie Smith
A LEADING European golf club has slammed Spanish police after one of its members allegedly groped a female bartender while on a golf break.
Austrian golfer Wolfgang Habersatter, 55, has been accused of sexually assaulting the worker, while drinking at the bar of Estepona’s five star Gran Hotel Elba.
The father-of-two was arrested by police in his hotel room on Saturday evening, before being bundled into the back of a car.
Witnesses of the incident and later arrest insisted he had been drinking and his friends were ‘behaving rowdily’.
But the manager of Salzburg’s exclusive Radstadt golf club told the Olive Press that Habersatter was ‘completely innocent’.
Executive Director Horst Watzlik vowed the 20 members who had made the trip, ‘would not return to Spain’ due to the ‘upsetting’ events.
He added that police had ‘reacted heavily’ and the incident had been blown out of proportion.
He said Habersatter had merely ‘touched the girl’s back’ and it did not constitute assault.
He also strongly denied claims that there is a video showing Habersatter groping the girl.
“Wolfgang was upset when I saw him,” he told the Olive Press, “we are all upset, many of our members don’t want to go back to Spain.
“He is a good golfer and I think he is happy that the problem has gone away.”
Policia Nacional are continuing to investigate the case after officers were alerted to the hotel, when the bartender filed a denuncia.
According to a regular guest at the hotel, Habersatter was ‘drunk’ with his friends.
“They were being rowdy and it’s not right that staff are treated in this way,” he told the Olive Press.
Golfclub Radstad is one of Austria’s top clubs with its 13th hole considered, ‘one of the most beautiful par fours in the Alps,’ according to the Austrian Golf Association.
Gran Hotel Elba Estepona was approached for comment, but said it could not give further details due to ‘data protection’.
A spokesman for Estepona’s Policia Nacional confirmed: “We arrested a man, 55, at the hotel on Saturday night at 20.30 for sexually assaulting a member of staff.”
