KEY POINTS:
Lying on the floor and bleeding heavily from a gaping head wound an Auckland liquor store owner yelled out for his son to stop chasing the attackers, fearing the 21-year-old would also be hurt.
"Dad was saying 'come back, come back - let them go' because he knew they were going to hurt me," the son told the Herald.
Moments later the father's fears were realised when the son was hit on the head with a broken bottle.
The father and son - who did not want to be identified - are now recovering at home following the attempted robbery at their Three Kings Liquor store last Wednesday night.
Police say the 55-year-old father's injuries were so bad that he is lucky to have survived and last night released sketches of the attackers in the hope someone will recognise them.
The attack happened at about 9pm when two men tried to leave without paying for two bottles of alcohol.
One of the men started running towards the door so the son tackled him to the floor where the bottle broke and a fight broke out.
As the pair struggled on the floor the man's accomplice jumped on top of the son and also attacked him.
"The guy at the back was about to punch me but then my dad came and joined the fight. He was just trying to protect me," said the son.
As the fighting continued one of the men picked up the broken bottle and stabbed the father with it.
"When he stabbed my dad on the face he fell on the ground, then my dad picked up a bottle from the ground and started stabbing the guy behind me. He stabbed him twice on the neck.
"I had no idea what was going through my head, I was just punching the guy who was on the ground and when I saw this guy was punching my dad I started punching him [too]."
The attackers eventually broke free and ran from the shop. The son tried to follow.
"I was holding on to one of the guy's T-shirt ... but then I heard my dad calling me and I suddenly noticed there was blood coming from my forehead and into my eyes. The guy who was behind me when I was on the street ... had a bottle in his hand and hit me on my head so I let him go."
The son realised that his father was badly injured so he called 111. People from the neighbouring takeaway store came in and helped tend the injuries until emergency services arrived.
Detective Sergeant Geoff Baber said the father was so badly injured that the case would have been a homicide if it weren't for the medical treatment applied at the scene. The father required an urgent blood transfusion.
At least one of the attackers was also cut on the neck during the confrontation and police are asking anyone who recognises the men from the sketches to contact them immediately.
"While we don't know the extent of his injury, suffice to say someone who knows this young man would notice such a cut."
The attackers are described as Polynesian in their late teens or early 20s: one slim and about 180cm tall; the other stockier and slightly shorter.
