The grandmother of a 20-year-old killed in a violent incident on a central Hamilton street has spoken of her grief and vowed to fight for justice.

Her grandson had been out celebrating his upcoming birthday and was due to travel to Rarotonga for his 21st with his family, she told the Herald.

“Love you moko...how unfair you were taken...watch over mum and dad,” she said in a series of social media tributes.

“My grandson, he needs justice,” she told the Herald.

Police say they responded to an altercation involving two groups on July 20 about 12.10am on Alexandra St in central Hamilton.

Detective Sergeant Reece Durston, area manager investigations, said four people were injured, and the 20-year-old victim died in hospital a short time later. They are investigating his death as a homicide.

‘It would definitely take an arm off’

Lawrenson Group CEO and central Hamilton bar owner John Lawrenson believed a scuffle between a couple of groups occurred around 11:45pm at an event in the area.

While it didn’t occur on his premises, Lawrenson said some of his CCTV cameras show people running to Alexandra St, where the violence later erupted.

An individual wearing white was clearly seen on CCTV “holding a 15 to 18 inch machete blade”, he told the Herald.

“That thing was enormous, it would definitely take an arm off.”

He also had seen CCTV of a woman trying to help the victim who was lying on the pavement after the incident.

Police have issued a plea for cell phone or dashcam footage of the violence.

“We are speaking to a number of witnesses and people involved in the altercation and are making a number of enquiries to locate the offender and the weapon or weapons that were used,” police said today.

“There is still a lot of work ahead of us to understand the full circumstances of what occurred, but the investigation team is committed to piecing the many fragments together.”

Malisha Kumar is a multimedia journalist based in Hamilton. She joined the Waikato Herald in 2023 after working for Radio 1XX in Whakatāne.