The co-worker of a Hamilton dairy worker who lost two fingers in a machete attack yesterday morning no longer feels safe.
The dairy worker was attacked by a man wielding a machete as he hid in the back room of the Irvine Street Dairy around 7.20am.
The man lost a thumb and index finger as he raised his arm to shield himself.
A neighbour who ran over to help after hearing his screams was punched in the face.
The worker has since been taken to hospital, where he underwent surgery to have his thumb reattached.
Gagandeep Maan was left to scrub his co-worker's blood from the floor following the horrific assault.
"Because I fully feel not very good when I see the blood on the floor over there," he explained.
"He's my good friend so I cleaned it up."
The victim has now undergone surgery to reattach one of two severed fingers. (Source: 1News)
Maan says he no longer feels safe working at the store.
"When there is no customer I just stay outside so at least if someone is coming, I can run away somewhere," he said.
Dairy owner Puneet Singh told 1News the worker is recovering from his ordeal at Waikato Hospital.
"After the eight-hour surgery they have reattached the fingers, and not sure how well it's gonna perform," Singh said.
He said the worker "was begging them like 'don't kill me, don't kill me' but the guy, the attacker tried to attack him on his head".
Detective Senior Sergeant Kristine Clarke called the attack "really, really disturbing".
"It's really taking this type of thing to another level, the gratuitous violence that was involved," she told reporters.
Yesterday's assault follows a similar attack at the same dairy in 2017, when the previous owner lost an eye.
Anyone who witnessed the assault or has CCTV footage has been asked to come forward and speak to police, referencing file number 221217/6333.
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