Staff member stabbed in robbery of Big Barrel in Hastings

A family owned liquor store chain is shocked after a staff member was stabbed. Photo / Warren Buckland

A 21-year-old Hastings bottle store robbery victim was interviewed by police yesterday just hours after his "miracle" survival in a Monday night stabbing.

Detective Inspector Mike Foster believes only emergency surgery saved the life of the store worker who was stabbed several times in a "callous and vicious" attack at the Big Barrel store in Maraekakaho Rd, just south of BP Stortford Lodge.

"The medical staff at Hawke's Bay Hospital did an amazing job with him on his stab wounds that night," Foster said.

"This was an unprovoked and vicious attack. He's lucky to be alive. It's a miracle."

The victim was able to talk with police yesterday about the attack, which happened about 7.15pm on Monday, in what police regarded as a worrying escalation in dairy, service station and bottle store robberies in Hawke's Bay this year, particularly in the Hastings area.

"As a result, we've got a large team working on it," said Foster, who appealed for anyone with information to contact police. St John Ambulance area manager Brendan Hutchinson said the victim was in a critical condition when his crew arrived, and was taken to the hospital a short distance away.

The attack has left owners and staff of the Hawke's Bay-founded Big Barrel chain "shell-shocked", said Big Barrel Group owner-operator and managing director Palwinder Singh.

"Staff safety is always our priority and one thing that we don't want to be compromised. But when these things happen, no such training and no polices will work because you are simply getting attacked.

"When we found out he was in hospital, we couldn't sleep," Singh said.

"We are worried for him. We are all praying and hoping for his speedy recovery."

Singh, who is currently overseeing operations in Dunedin, has been getting regular updates from staff in Hawke's Bay. He had not seen CCTV footage when contacted by Hawke's Bay Today, but understood offenders entered the store before stabbing his staff member and then leaving with items.

"We knew such a thing could happen but nobody had any imagination that somebody would simply attack them for no reason. We are all trained and always discuss these things with our team on how can we handle these situations - to co-operate and let them take what they want."

He said the "aggressive behaviour is concerning". Lately they had encountered several "grab and run" incidents, but nothing of this kind.

The chain has been operating in Hawke's Bay for 15 years with Big Barrel moving on to the Maraekakaho Rd and opening in 2010.

"[The region] is probably one of the safest places. The community has been so comforting and accommodating and we have never had such a problem.

"I hope authorities will realise that this is getting out of hand. It is time to act. I think we live in such a lovely community where we are all supportive to each other and I think it's just a bunch of idiots creating a bad name for our society."

Singh said there was not much more they could do, with high resolution camera systems in place to identify offenders.

"The only way you can fix it is by naming the criminals and putting them behind bars and that's the job for police."

Singh said they were there to support staff in any way and offered counselling for those who wanted it.

The store was closed to the public yesterday, with cordons in place. Police were still investigating.