Kings Cross brawl victim dies

A “perfect husband” left in a coma during a Kings Cross brawl has died after relatives made the heartbreaking decision to turn off his life support machine.

The grief-stricken wife of Wilson Duque Castillo, 33, made a heartfelt plea for information before saying her final goodbye.

With relatives at his bedside, Mr Castillo died at 3.55pm (AEDT) today.

Wife Raquel Duque earlier called for answers as she told of her disbelief and suffering over the December 18 incident, from which Mr Duque Castillo never recovered.

Nightclub bouncers from the Trademark Hotel were involved in the altercation, police allege, but so far no-one has been charged over his attack.

“Please if anyone did see anything … we need you to come forward, we need to have questions explained, we need to know what has happened,” Ms Duque said.

“Wilson was my partner of 10 years … and the father of our four-month-old son Dylan and I loved him very much.

“But now he has been taken away from me and there’s a gap in my life, and in the life of our baby son that can never be filled.

“It’s not fair, why did this have to happen?”

Mr Duque Castillo’s mother, Aida, who recently arrived in Australia with her husband, was led out of the Sydney press conference in a distraught state when photos of her son were shown.

He had been in intensive care at St Vincent’s Hospital since the alleged assault and never regained consciousness.

Ms Duque said she wanted to wait for his parents to arrive from Colombia before making the decision to turn off his life support so they could “say their last goodbyes”.

She said she was forced to do so “because he isn’t with us any more”, but asked the hospital “just to keep him like that so his parents could feel a warm body with his warm heart”.

Mr Duque Castillo had been refused entry to the Trademark Hotel with his brother, Wilmer, 27, and a male friend, when bouncers allegedly chased them along Bayswater Road.

The incident finished up on nearby Darlinghurst Road, where Mr Duque Castillo and his brother both suffered injuries.

A 36-year-old bouncer, former NRL player and boxer John Hopoate, was arrested on December 19 and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and affray.

Those charges relate to the assault of Mr Duque Castillo’s brother, who was treated for facial injuries before being released from hospital.

Police are now appealing for witnesses to help piece together what took place, and lay charges over the second assault.

Kings Cross Superintendent Tony Crandell said the person responsible for Mr Duque Castillo’s death was facing possible manslaughter or murder charges.

Supt Crandell said up to 20 people witnessed the incident and video footage of some of the bystanders has been released.

Ms Duque said she believes the man she loved would not have done anything to provoke violence and was not aggressive.

“If you knew him, you would want to be his friend,” she said.

“He is the most loving, friendly person, he wouldn’t hurt anyone especially now with our baby, he adored Dylan.

“Friday night was our anniversary, we had spoken about having (another) baby soon – that’s just not going to happen.

“He was just the perfect person.”

Ms Duque said she had visited her husband every day in hospital for the past two weeks and thought he would pull through.

Now, she is struggling to come to terms with the tragedy.

She said she hoped going public would help achieve closure and Dylan would then be able to know how and why his father died.

“He will want to know (what happened), he will want to know what his father was like,” she said.

“I hope this doesn’t happen to any other person’s family because now my normal is not normal anymore.

“I don’t know what normal is.”

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