A south Auckland liquor store owner told police during an interview played in court today that he was jumped on by a group of boys.
Virender Singh's interview with Detective Constable Nicholas Poland was played at a depositions hearing before two justices of the peace in Manukau District Court.
The hearing aims to establish whether Singh should stand trial on two charges of injuring with intent.
Singh has said he acted in self defence.
The charges followed a brawl outside Singh's Gilbert Road liquor store in Otara on September 30 last year.
During Singh's interview, he told Mr Poland that he had seen a boy, who was quite drunk, trying to get inside his shop.
"I told him couldn't come into the shop because he was underage and drunk. He started swearing at me.
"I asked my nephew to get the telephone so I could call 111 and I asked the operator for the police.
"That's when I saw another three guys in the corner. They jumped on me outside the shop. I tried to defend myself and they started punching me. They were only about 15 or 16, and were maybe intoxicated or on some kind of drugs.
"One of the boys had a knife and he stabbed me in my leg. I felt my pants were wet, and I saw bleeding and I had a hole in my pants.
"Then somebody tried to stab my nephew in the chest with a knife.
"I got a hockey stick from inside the shop and I followed him.
"He held the knife at me. I hit him with the hockey stick on the legs and arms five or six times.
"Two of the other boys went to pick up a piece of wood.
"Then I went back to see my nephew and dialled 111 to speak to police. My nephew was struggling to get up.
"The guys came back again and hit my friend's wife with a piece of wood from the fence.
"I said to the police, `Are you waiting for someone to die here?'," Singh said in his interview.
Singh added that a few of his neighbours came to help and chased the boys into the street, as the police arrived.
The court heard that Singh had owned the shop with his wife for the past three-and-a-half years. They have three daughters.
A witness, Edmund Vaetoru, who gave evidence earlier today, said he saw threatening behaviour from a group of boys outside the shop before the incident took place.
But Singh's lawyer, Greg King, said there was a number of discrepancies between what Vaetoru told police on the day of the incident, and what he said in court today.
Mr Vaetoru said most of his statement was what he said, but some of the statement was not what he said in his police interview.
Under cross-examination from Mr King, Vaetoru was asked why he signed the statement if it was "riddled with mistakes" as he said it was.
Mr King said he (Vaetoru) was "playing games" and what he was saying in court was confusing.
"I'm just trying to work out which of the different versions you've given of the incident is the one you stand by," Mr King said.
Crown lawyer Deborah Marshall said that for self-defence, Singh would need to show he used force to defend himself, what the circumstances were that required self-defence, and that the force was reasonable in the circumstances.
The hearing is expected to finish tomorrow.
