Warning: This story contains confronting vision that some viewers may find distressing.
An Auckland dairy owner has been left with seven stitches in her head after offenders entered the store armed with hammers and carried out what police have labelled reckless violence against the woman owner.
A customer was also hospitalised following the attack which occurred in broad daylight yesterday.
This dairy owner deployed a fog cannon before she was forced to protect herself with her hands as an offender came at her with a hammer.
Another armed offender appeared to join the onslaught before the first attacker came back around to the front of the counter and swung yet again before the scene is quickly shrouded by smoke.
Dairy and Business Owners Group chairman Sunny Kaushal told Newshub "This is another barbaric incident".
"They have attacked a helpless woman (sic). It's very shocking. The whole family is shaken."
The family have owned the Jyotis Dairy and served the Auckland community of Mount Roskill for 15 years.
The woman's husband's now supporting his wife who is recovering at home after being discharged from hospital.
"She's got seven stitches on her head. Yesterday there was a lot of blood around it's cleaned up. It was [a] very terrible, very heartbreaking scene," Kaushal said.
The incident occurred at around 4:30 on Wednesday afternoon.
A customer was also seriously assaulted and was taken to hospital with moderate injuries. The offenders took off with tobacco and cash, and are yet to be found by police.
In a statement, police say they are appalled at the reckless violence exhibited towards innocent members of the community, calling it a brazen robbery.
As the police investigation continues the community, including local, Wayne Johnstone, is rallying behind the owners.
"I'm upset. It's just disgusting you know. How much lower can you get?" Johnstone said.
The fog cannon may have made it more difficult to identify the hammer-wielding offenders on security footage.
"Fog cannons are not the answer to stop any crime. they are the band-aid. they are the ambos waiting under the cliff," Kaushal said.
The dairy is less than 2 kilometres away from the Rose Cottage Superette, where dairy worker Janak Patel was fatally stabbed in November last year.
"It's heartbreaking, frustrating, we are all very angry," Sandringham Business Association chair Jithin Chittibomma said.
"I want to send a message to the Police Minister through your channel. The whole nation is watching how you are going to deal with this situation, this incident again and that will define how much trust you can win from the communities and the businesses," Kaushal said.
Businesses where owners are having to defend themselves with their bare hands against armed robbers while they are simply trying to earn a living.
