Warning: The following contains descriptions of violence that may upset some readers.
A dairy worker in Hamilton has lost two fingers after a machete-wielding robber attacked him early this morning.
The dairy owner estimates up to $20,000 worth of tobacco products were also stolen.
CCTV footage shows four offenders entering the Irvine Street Dairy in the Hamilton suburb of Frankton shortly after it opened at 7:30am Saturday.
The staff member, a young father, escaped to a back room but was chased down by one of the offenders who swung a machete, chopping off two of his fingers.
"He tried to save himself by bringing in his hand in between his head or chest and the machete thing hit him on his hands and his two fingers were cut down and dispatched from the hand," Irvine St Dairy owner Puneet Singh said.
Owner Puneet Singh arrived at his dairy on Friday morning and was confronted with the blood of his staff member.
Singh said a neighbour heard the yelling and came to rescue the staff member but the offenders punched him and knocked him down.
The neighbour is okay but the dairy worker was rushed to Waikato Hospital.
Singh said the offenders took off with about $20,000 worth of tobacco products.
It comes just a month after the fatal stabbing of dairy worker Janak Patel in Auckland outside the Rose Cottage Superette where he worked. Patel's death led dairy workers to strike.
Dairy and Business Owners Group chair Sunny Kaushal said the latest incident in Hamilton is not surprising.
"A sense of lawlessness is gripping the entire country. No one is feeling safe. This is a young family. This poor guy has to live with these injuries, without the fingers, for his whole life," Kaushal said.
The Government recently announced $6 million in new funding for local crime prevention and expanded its previous $6 million package to include victims of aggravated robbery, not just ram-raids. From February, businesses can also apply for a $4000 fog cannon subsidy.
But Opposition politicians said the Government is overseeing an alarming trend.
"More and more brazen attacks on law-abiding people and no credible escalation from the Government side," ACT Party leader David Seymour said.
Because scenes like this one are becoming all too familiar.
