Whangārei shop attendant injured in attack by customer

A worker at LiquorLand in Otaika will undergo surgery on his hand after he was attacked with a knife by a customer. Photo / Michael Cunningham

A Northland liquor store attendant will have surgery on his hand after he was attacked by a customer who was refused service.

The incident happened at LiquorLand in Otaika, Whangārei, about 8.20pm on Tuesday and the store's owner is praising the intervention of six customers, who confronted the armed man, as potentially stopping far worse harm.

Police arrested a 46-year-old man who's facing one charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The shop worker will undergo surgery on his significantly-injured little finger.

Store owner Jeremy Wright said the customer, who was known in the area, said his employee refused to serve the disgruntled man as he could not pay for cigarettes.

The man left but returned about 30 minutes later, "looking for a fight", Wright said.
Nothing was taken from the store.

"Obviously it's disappointing but it was good quite good to see the support from locals. There were quite a lot of regular customers that helped staff which was good to see.

"During the heated discussion at the till, the customers told the man to 'p*** off' and he almost had a fight with them but backed off as there were six to just him.

"This area has had quite a number of such incidents over the years but 99.9 per cent of customers are good people. They are friendly, polite and once in a while a muppet or a little gangster wannabe comes along," he said.

A police spokesman said the 46-year-old alleged offender was located an hour later. He will appear in Whangārei District Court on the charge.

Tuesday's incident comes just less than two months after the owner of next door Otaika
Four Square was punched by a shoplifter who swept items off shelves when asked to return the biscuits he shoved down his pants.

Murray Owles suffered a sore jaw after he copped a left hook from the customer who entered the supermarket with a toddler.

Owles' wife blamed financial stress, depression, and possible drug addiction for the frequency of attacks on retail outlets in the Otaika Shopping Centre.

Retail giant Foodstuffs bought the Otaika Shopping Centre in late 2018 for $3.8 million at
auction.