• A Newmarket Security guard was stabbed in the neck during an altercation with a person fleeing police outside Westfield Newmarket on Thursday. 
• The security guard needed surgery for his critical injuries but is now seeing visitors, including Police Minister Mark Mitchell. 
• Guard Lopeti’s actions have been described as “truly heroic” by Newmarket Business Association chief executive Mark Knoff-Thomas. 

The actions of a security guard critically injured when he was stabbed in the neck while on duty outside a central Auckland mall on a busy weekday afternoon have been described as “truly heroic”, as the man begins receiving visitors - including Police Minister Mark Mitchell. 

Newmarket Security guard Lopeti has undergone surgery and remains in hospital since the violent incident outside Westfield Newmarket on Thursday, but is able to see visitors, Newmarket Business Association [NBA] chief executive Mark Knoff-Thomas wrote in a post to LinkedIn this morning. 

“Thank you to so many of you who have reached out asking after our Mobile Patrol Officer, Lopeti, who was injured in the dreadful incident on Broadway [in Newmarket] on Thursday. 

“I’m pleased to say that his surgery was successful, and the team and I visited him again yesterday afternoon and he is recovering well.” 

In a photo taken this morning the guard can be seen giving a thumbs up from his hospital bed alongside several visitors, including Mitchell and Knoff-Thomas. 

Lopeti was expected to be released from hospital after the weekend, Knoff-Thomas wrote. 

The actions of security guard Lopeti, pictured with hospital visitors including Police Minister Mark Mitchell, left, were "truly heroic", says Newmarket Business Association chief executive Mark Knoff-Thomas (pictured second from right). Lopeti was critically injured when he was stabbed in the neck while at work outside Westfield Newmarket on Thursday. Photo / LinkedIn 

He was in awe of Lopeti’s actions during the frightening incident near upmarket fashion store Moncler on Thursday, which occurred during an altercation with a person fleeing police. 

Moments before a “very antsy guy in a balaclava” had also run past a female shopper, the woman told the Herald. 

“Lopeti’s actions were truly heroic,” Knoff-Thomas wrote on LinkedIn. 

“We shudder to think what could have happened if the knife-wielding offender wasn’t stopped.” 

A police officer apprehends a man outside Westfield Newmarket after a security guard was stabbed in the neck on Thursday. Photo / Andre Dromgool 

The business leader had earlier told Newstalk ZB knife crime in Auckland and the rest of the country was rising and while what happened on Thursday was an “isolated incident”, the criminal charges for knife crime needed another look. 

“If people are in possession or using a knife, or using a knife as a weapon, the sentencing for those [incidents] needs to be upped massively”, Knoff-Thomas said. 

Knoff-Thomas also praised police, Hato Hone St John Ambulance and Westfield for their support, and Mitchell - along with fellow Newmarket Security staff - for visiting the injured guard in hospital this morning. 

“The last few days have been very challenging for the whole NBA team. We are a tight bunch, we are a work family, but are supporting each other the best we can. On behalf of the team, we are so grateful for all the calls, messages, texts, offers to help and support. 

“This was an isolated incident, the [alleged] offender was arrested within seconds of the attack and has been remanded in custody until his court date.” 

Police at the scene of the stabbing of a security guard outside Westfield Newmarket mall on Thursday. Photo / Sylvie Whinray 

A 24-year-old man appeared in Auckland District Court yesterday charged with aggravated wounding in relation to the incident. 

He was remanded without plea in custody, and with interim name suppression, until his next appearance in court on December 19. 

Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.