KEY POINTS:
Police hope a neck injury might identify one of two thieves responsible for an attack that almost killed an Auckland business owner.
The 53-year-old man nearly bled to death on his shop doorstep. He needed an urgent blood transfusion after apparently being stabbed in the face with a broken liquor bottle which the men had been trying to steal.
Pools and splashes of blood stained the doorstep and footpath in front of the cordoned off scene at Three Kings Liquor Store on Mt Albert Rd yesterday.
Detective Sergeant Geoff Baber told the Herald the attack began when two Polynesian men tried to leave without paying for bottles of spirits while the store owner and his 21-year-old son were working in the family business about 9pm on Wednesday.
Mr Baber said a scuffle broke out after the thieves were told to pay for the alcohol.
"The owner did confront him and said 'stop, you've got to pay for that'," he said.
After that, a fight broke out during which a broken bottle was used as a weapon.
Mr Baber said the son received cuts to his cheek, forehead and defence wounds to his hands and arms and the father a deep cut to his face which resulted in severe blood loss.
"They did some serious damage to this guy."
The man had nearly died and the case had come "pretty much as close as you can without actually being" a homicide inquiry.
"From what I understand from the medical staff it was only through the good work that was done by the police who initially attended the victim's injuries and the ambulance staff, that he survived.
"He'd lost that much blood. If that medical attention by the police and the ambulance staff hadn't been done properly we certainly could have been looking at a homicide."
Katty and Kamar Parmar, who own Three Kings Kebabs two stores away, said the family had owned the store for only about three months and were "nice people".
"They were always inside sitting over there at their counter ... very hard working people," Mrs Parmar said.
Mr Parmar said he was shocked by the incident. He and his wife had moved to New Zealand from India five years ago because it was advertised widely in their home country as "the best place for you to choose".
Mr Baber said police were hoping someone would notice a wound on the neck of one of the offender, inflicted during the fracas.
"While we don't know the extent of his injury, suffice to say someone who knows this young man would notice such a cut. I'd urge anyone who has information about him or his partner in crime to contact myself or my colleagues at Avondale CIB."
The offenders are described as Polynesian and in their late teens or early 20s.
One was of slim build and was about 180cm tall, and the other was more stocky and slightly shorter.
Sixteen officers are working on the inquiry.
