"It plays over and over in my head all day and night. I stay up till really late so I'm really exhausted, that's the only way I can fall asleep without thinking about being shot."
The 33-year-old father and business owner was ordering chicken and chips at his favourite kebab shop when he and two women were allegedly injured in the shooting on Fort St, in the early hours of Saturday, March 5.
Poull Andersen shows the scars from a random shooting on Fort St. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Andersen had 22 lead pellets surgically removed from his upper torso, face, nose and arms. Some pellets punctured his lungs and one narrowly missed his heart. He says doctors left around 20 pellets in his body because they were difficult to remove.
He has a long scar running down his stomach and a moving pellet near his elbow.
"They had to cut pellets out of my arteries, intestines, and stomach. A pellet missed my eye and there is one lodged near my heart. I am full of lead and I get tired easily," Andersen said.
His mother, Robynne, jokes that she has grounded her son from ever going back to the city. When she discovered he had been shot she panicked and drove through several red lights to be with him.
"I was so worried I thought he had a big hole in him and there wouldn't be much left of him. When I saw he had tiny little holes all over him, he looked like a sieve. I told him I loved him."
She says her son has lost his "mojo" and is sensitive to loud noises and is easily triggered.
"He's a loving person, a good person but he can get angry. He is more aware of everyone and has his guard up. I understand how mums feel when their children are hurt badly, you think, 'God this is the end,' I never want to go there again."
Andersen's days are busy with medical appointments and he meets a psychologist regularly because he says his head is a little "messed up". A Givealittle fundraising page was set up by Andersen's friends but he's had to withdraw the $8500 to pay for the rent and bills.
The mechanic owns JDM Garage and refits and modifies sports cars. He is too unwell to work and is struggling financially.
"ACC doesn't cover near enough costs. I've lost a lot of wages; this has affected me big time, I was so behind in my rent because I haven't done anything for 10 weeks.
"I worked so hard to set up a business and it's all been pulled from underneath me." An 18-year-old boy, who has name suppression, entered not guilty pleas to three charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm with a firearm.
"I am angry he has name suppression," Andersen said.
Jay-Jay Feeney and Poull Andersen with their mother, Robynne Andersen. Photo / Supplied
His sister, Jay-Jay Feeney, told the Herald on Sunday she is frustrated by the escalating amount of crime in Auckland.
"The level of violence is disgusting and terrifying. My brother doesn't want to go back to his favourite kebab shop ever again. I am scared for my boyfriend who works in the city — it's not like 'this happens to someone else' because it happened to us.
"My brother is traumatised, we have to be careful around him. I don't think anyone could get over something like this."
Andersen says his world is smaller and he will never return to the city.
"I'm not the bubbly, fun person anymore. I have slowly withdrawn from the world, I think. "I stay well clear of the city; I don't ever want to get myself in a situation like this again. "My boys who live in Christchurch don't want to visit; they are too scared. I love my kids to bits; I want to be there for them and no one is going to take that from me."
