Man stabbed, bitten chasing burglars

Police are again warning of the dangers of homeowners pursuing burglars after a man was stabbed in the neck and had half an ear bitten off.

Detective Sergeant Ricky Thompson, of Hamilton police, said the 32-year-old man, who chased at least two people he thought were stealing a bike from his Albert St property early yesterday morning, was lucky to be alive.

The man ran after the burglars for several hundred metres before confronting them in a driveway about 12.45am.

A struggle left the man with a stab wound to his neck near his larynx, a wound to one of his hands, swelling to his jaw, a wound to his left temple and cuts to his torso.

"The man's left ear was also bitten in half but is still attached," said Mr Thompson.

He said the incident highlighted the risks of confronting offenders.

It follows a bungled burglary this year where another Hamilton man confronted two women in his home before chasing them on March 16.

One of the women stabbed the man in the back with a steak knife as he scuffled with the other in his yard.

"Police always recommend a victim's first course of action should be to raise the alarm via 111," said Mr Thompson.

"Though very serious, the incident played out early this morning could easily have had even more tragic circumstances than occurred."

A neighbour said she was woken by yelling and swearing and could see at least three men scuffling in her neighbour's driveway.

"It was pretty full-on, they had like a stick or something and they were waving it around, one of them jumped into our yard and my mum just told him to f*** off," she said.

"I saw it happen but I didn't realise that this guy had been stabbed ... he just seemed to walk off casually after it happened."

She said the people living at the house were too afraid to open their curtains and could not help the man being attacked.

The victim was discharged from Waikato Hospital yesterday morning.

Mr Thompson said the struggle would have been noisy and police would like to hear from anyone who saw or heard anything in the vicinity around 12.45am.

He said the only description available was of a Pakeha male, about 180cm tall, of medium build and wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and jeans, with a Justin Bieber-style haircut.

The offenders are believed to have had a black BMX bike with white handlebars with them.

Anyone with any information on the attack or the identity of the attackers is asked to contact the Hamilton Central Police Station on (07) 858-6200 or anonymously on the Crimestoppers crimeline 0800 555-111.