Liquor store incident: 'I didn't know if she was alive or not'

A North Shore liquor store owner whose mother was assaulted in his shop has described the moment he saw her thrown to the ground in front of him.

The Bottle-O Glenfield owner Daniel, who asked for his surname to be withheld, said seeing the 64-year-old's head hit the floor was "very scary".

"I didn't know if she was alive or not. I'm very close to her. It was very scary to see."

He said a woman entered the store last night with a man and began to drink from a bottle of wine in the chiller.

"I went and told them to stop, then she started pushing me and swearing at me. They said they were going to come back."

He called the police, and the pair returned after about 45 minutes.

"They were outside looking in. I called the police again and they asked where they were, so I asked my mum to go check."

About 6.30pm, he saw his mother being chased back into the store.

"They chased her inside and my hand was holding the phone to the police. I didn't have enough hands to do anything so I tried to stop her [the attacker] with my body.

"She grabbed my mum's head and then she threw her on the ground, and then even though she was on the ground she still wanted to hit my mum."

Daniel said his mother was recovering steadily at Auckland City Hospital, but he was worried about the long-term effects of the incident.

"At the moment she is okay. She woke up at around 3am, and she's been eating a little bit.

"She's not quite thinking clearly. I worry about the future because she's old and she's had a head injury.

"She might be fine on the outside but I don't know about the inside."

Police said they had arrested two people in relation to the incident. A 35-year-old man had been charged with assault with intent to injure -- Daniel acknowledged he was being prosecuted -- and a 25-year-old woman with assault with intent to injure and with shoplifting.