The man accused of attacking diners at a series of North Shore restaurants last night appeared in court briefly this morning, before his matter was stood down until the afternoon.
The man allegedly entered several restaurants on Albany's Corinthian Drive while wielding a weapon and started attacking people about 9pm.
The 24-year-old faces a charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison, and police say further charges are likely.
He was brought up from the North Shore District Court cells to appear in the dock before Community Magistrate Rosemary Fitzpatrick.
The man, who RNZ say is a Chinese national, was represented by barrister Michael Kan and assisted by a Mandarin interpreter.
Kan sought interim name suppression for his client, which was granted, along with suppression of his address and occupation.
A St John spokesperson said they were called to the incident at 9.04pm.
“We assessed and treated three patients - one in a serious condition transported to Auckland [City] Hospital and one in a serious condition and one in a moderate condition transported to North Shore Hospital.”
TVNZ’s Breakfast reported that the two people at North Shore Hospital were now in a stable condition, with minor injuries, according to a hospital statement.
The man allegedly damaged up to half a dozen eateries during the rampage.
This morning, shocked owners of a number of eateries on Corinthian Dr were waiting at a police cordon hoping to be allowed inside their businesses to survey the extent of the damage.
One restaurateur told The New Zealand Herald up to half a dozen eateries had sustained some damage during the incident.
A witness who asked not to be named told theHerald he was having dinner with a friend when a man walked in carrying an axe.
“He walked in and hit my friend. He was the first target.
“I’m slightly injured. My friend got seriously injured. Only two of us got injured in our restaurant, but [there were] more wounded in the other restaurants.”
‘I blocked his axe with my hand’
“I was in shock. When I realised what was happening, he tried to target me.
“I blocked his axe with my hand. He was also trying to target my head - so I blocked the axe with my hand.”
The witness said the attacker then chased him and his friend out of the restaurant.
“When he realised he can’t catch us, he just turned around and went into another restaurant and kept attacking.
“It was all very random. We all think this was random - no one knew him.”
The witness said he and his friend had been eating at the Maya Hotpot restaurant.
They watched in horror as the man involved walked into a second restaurant - Yue’s Dumpling Kitchen - and attacked another person.
The witness said it was “very, very, very scary”.
“The customer who got seriously injured in this restaurant had his head down to his food, focusing on the food. There was no way for him to know this attacker was coming.
“He was hit - he was one of the ones taken away by ambulance.”
A second person who saw the incident said he heard the attacker say he had been beaten by someone and this was retaliation.
This witness said he had been seated at a table that looked towards the entrance and saw the attacker walk in and attack a person who had his back to the door.
“The guy at the front was eating. I saw [the attacker] come in with a f*****g hammer-axe thing.
“I was in the second shop targeted. I did what I did - gave the man first aid. I didn’t know there had been multiple victims ‘til [I] came out to help police put the guy in the car.
“Then I heard [a] guy here, guy there...”
The witness said of the attacker: “He was very, very calm when I told him to go. He kept coming at me.”
The witness also said the victim he helped was still conscious after the attack, but had a serious head injury.
“He was fully conscious and standing. But he had a big cut to the middle and front of his head.
“I helped also to do first aid on him. I was able to help press down [on the wound].
Another person told the AM Show this morning that it was a “crazy rampage assault”.
“I thought he had a beef with someone else. It was crazy with this f*****g massive hammer.”
Police said initial inquiries suggested it was an isolated incident and no one else was being sought.
