Pizza outlet employee stabbed in robbery

An employee at an Auckland fast food outlet was stabbed several times by three robbers armed with a knife in what police today described as a "nasty" incident.

The 28-year-old victim was taken to hospital with stab wounds to his arm and chest. His condition was stable and not considered life-threatening.

Detective Senior Sergeant Simon Scott said the robbery happened at the Pizza Haven outlet in Pt Chevalier about 10.25pm last night.

Three masked men entered the premises and demanded money from the employee, who handed over $700 and was then told to open the safe.

When he replied that he didn't have the combination, he was stabbed before the offenders ran out.

"It's a nasty offence; they stabbed the victim without any justification," Mr Scott said.

"It's bad enough to go into a shop with a knife, but to go on and stab this guy makes it worse. We could have been dealing with a homicide. Thankfully, that's not the case."

There was one other person, a customer who had just walked in, on the premises at the time.

However, the only descriptions the police had of the offenders were that they were Polynesian and wore white motocross face masks. One man was about 1.8m tall and had a black hooded sweatshirt on.

"We are concerned about these guys," Mr Scott said. "We want to catch them."

- NZPA