Two Auckland shopkeepers who suffered a vicious assault by a group of young people armed with a baseball bat say they're fortunate to have survived.
Police have arrested two of the six involved, but Newshub can reveal one of them has already run away after being referred to Child, Youth and Family.
The teenagers stormed the Mt Roskill shop just after 7am last Sunday. There was no negotiation, no demands - just a frenzied attack using a bat and crow bar.
The victims, Preeti and her husband, Jitesh, are now recovering in hospital.
They're traumatised and afraid, and asked Newshub to conceal their identities.
"It's quite shocking and unbelievable that you go to your store every day, you're working hard, earning your livelihood, and someone walks into your property, your personal space, and starts hitting my husband on the head with a baseball bat," Preeti said.
CCTV shows one of the attackers snatch the till, as another, a 14-year-old female in red, rips out rack after rack of cigarettes.
Preeti says she feels like she was lucky to survive.
"Because the way we were attacked was like an attempt to murder," she said.
Her husband, Jitesh, can barely move his arm. X-rays reveal why - he's suffered multiple fractures.
He says in just four minutes his life has changed forever.
"They hit me 30 times, as police said," he said.
"It was a very horrible time for us, a very horrible time for us. Very worried about my life now because my business is stopped now."
Jitesh's brother, Raj Chopra, says current laws do nothing to deter such violence.
"Teenage offenders who do this sort of crime should be punished. There should be strict laws for this," he said.
Preeti called the attackers "the parasites of society".
"The youth builds the nation, but these ones I don't think they will build the nation," she said.
"I think they are parasites of society. I'm sorry I'm using a very harsh language but that's what I feel."
One of those arrested, a 13-year-old girl, is already on the run once more.
In a statement Child, Youth and Family says after appearing in the Youth Court, the girl was sent to a CYF community placement.
But she's since run away and police and CYF are now trying to find her.
Newshub.
