KEY POINTS:
Knife attack survivor Campbell Sussex has revealed how he tried to save "loyal mate" Daryl Graydon, who lay dying in a Howick driveway.
The friends seem to have been victims of an unprovoked attack after leaving a party at 1.45am yesterday - triggering the first of three homicide investigations for police within an hour.
Sussex said 24-year-old Daryl, known as Daz, stumbled into the Ridge Rd driveway after being stabbed several times in his upper body.
"He was in a bad way. He wasn't speaking. I had rung 111, I was talking to the operator, she told me to put something over the wound.
"So I took my shirt off and pulled up his one to see where he'd been stabbed, tried to cover him as best I could."
Sussex, also 24, said it felt like forever before the ambulance arrived.
"I was trying to get him to talk back to me. I was just yelling out his name to him."
Speaking at the Graydon family home in Panmure last night, Daryl's 15-year-old sister Alana said their mother Louanna broke the news of his death at 7am. "I couldn't believe it," she said. "I still can't. It just broke my heart."
Sussex said he and Daryl left a party on Mellons Bay Rd with three friends to go to the pub.
The group split up after what police describe as a "verbal altercation" with two young men. Sussex said he and Daryl were followed and attacked.
"They started coming across the road and started yelling stuff out to us in Afrikaans.
"They were going 'two on two, two on two' and then as they got a bit closer they pulled out one knife each. One chased me and one chased Daz.
"As the guy went to stab me I ran in the other direction and slipped over and he missed. That's virtually the only reason I didn't get stabbed."
Ridge Rd resident Kevin Papier was woken by his dogs barking and heard voices from the alley beside his house.
"They were giggling and laughing, then I heard a lot of swearing and shouting," he said.
He also heard someone yelling something like "come here, I'll get you".
"I could hear really fast running, and screaming. And then it went quiet. I didn't want to go outside."
Cameron Purchase woke to see Sussex and Daryl lying in the driveway next door.
"The friend had his shirt off and was crying his eyes out and yelling and screaming. About five minutes later an ambulance arrived and the friend helped by holding the drip.
"The police arrived with the helicopters and told us all to stay inside."
Daryl, who also has a 25-year-old brother called Lowell, went to Edgewater College and worked for White Rose Furniture in Pakuranga.
Employer Lali Ranvir Singh said Daryl was a skilled furniture maker whose hard work and friendly personality would be sorely missed.
"He was always so good to his colleagues."
Detective Senior Sergeant Karyn Malthus said police were confident of catching the offenders.
"I would like to offer some advice to the attackers to hand themselves in because we will be coming for them."
One attacker was described as European with blond hair and freckles. He was wearing a brown and grey hooded top. The other was part-Maori or olive-skinned, with dark spiky hair and wearing an electric blue shirt.
Both were wearing white shoes and were believed to be aged between 18 and 25.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the Operation Ridge team on (09) 261-1300.
Night of horror
A young man's birthday celebrations ended in tragedy when he was fatally stabbed in an unprovoked attack in Porirua.
Fitzgerald Risati, known as Fitz, turned 24 on Friday.
But he was killed around 2.40am yesterday in a "frenzied" attack which left his younger brother Risati Risati, 21, recovering in Wellington Hospital with stab wounds to his back.
Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Oxnam, head of Porirua CIB, said the attacker left in a four-door, possibly grey car.
The Risati brothers and five friends had been enjoying a birthday celebration at home in Cannons Creek when they decided to go into Porirua.
While they waited for a taxi at the Cannons Creek shops, a car pulled up and the front seat passenger stepped out and stabbed the brothers.
Risati later died from his wounds in Kenepuru Hospital.
"The victims were fine young men who are not gang members," Oxnam said. "It's appalling that one man died. A family has lost one son, and another is injured."
Meanwhile, three gunshots and an explosion were heard before a body was found in a burned out Christchurch flat.
Police have launched a homicide inquiry but are yet to identify the person found in a Church St flat in the early hours of yesterday.
Neighbours heard three gunshots and an explosion around 2.30am. Resident Debra Thompson says it shook her home some 200m away.
The local cafe owner said most neighbours do not know the transient tenants in the flats but the death had shaken the tight-knit community.
Detective Senior Sergeant Brian Archer said 30 detectives were working on the complicated crime scene. Not even the sex of the deceased could be identified at this stage.
Anyone with information about the attack in Porirua should call 0800 765-8348.
