A witness of the brazen daylight smash-and-grab at The Base shopping centre in Hamilton says his children are traumatised and don't ever want to go back to the mall.
The robbery took place on Sunday at around 11am when up to eight offenders smashed display cabinets and took off with handfuls of items from the Michael Hill jewellery store.
Police have spoken to several witnesses, but are asking anyone else to come forward.
It was the second shopping centre to be attacked in Hamilton on Sunday after a security guard was injured and taken to hospital after a group of people smashed their way into shops on Hukuni Road earlier in the morning.
Roeland, who Newshub has agreed not to publish his last name for security reasons, witnessed the smash-and-grab and told AM on Monday his children weren't able to sleep as they were scared of another attack.
"My youngest son is seven years old and my daughter's 18. She came back and took the kids away and she was crying. She was just like, 'oh, my God, I've heard of this happening, I've seen it on the news, but to happen in my own backyard is wow,'" Roeland told AM co-host Ryan Bridge.
"The worst thing in our mind is now that siren. That wailing siren noise, every time we hear a beep or something, it's just an instant reincarnation of what was happening. He had a terrible night last night. Just even this morning, he was saying 'are the robbers coming, are the robbers coming'. It's just not a good thing mentally."
Roeland was shopping at The Base shopping centre with his family when the Michael Hill jewellery store was raided.
He said they had just sat down for a meal when they heard this "almighty explosion", which he compared to "someone lifting up a table and smashing it".
"Everything happened real quick with all of these guys in these black outfits with these tomahawks, axes, clawhammer-looking things and they just randomly ran to these parts of the jewellery store, but almost looked like they knew exactly where they were going," he said.
"They were smashing, smashing, and grabbing … it was very spontaneous. They looked panicky, they looked like they were just really in panic mode because it was just so many people there."
Roeland told AM as the thieves sprinted from the jewellery store, one older man tried to stop them and was attacked by the robbers.
"At the end of it, there was one older guy who tried to run after them and one of the robbers turned around and swiped him," he said.
"I don't know if was a hammer or what but he got hit pretty hard and I'm seeing blood. So someone tried, but everyone was more in a state of, hey do you just leave these guys alone, let them do what they're doing and stay the hell out of the way because do you inflect the situation more by trying to intervene?"
The robberies on Sunday continue the spate of crime hitting New Zealand. On Monday morning, an Auckland mobile phone repair store was ram-raided with the footage from the scene showing the entrance to the store shattered with the front door lying on the ground inside the shop.
Watch the full interview with Roeland above.
