Knife used to attack Indian driver may have been found: Aus police

The police have retrieved a knife that may have been used to kill an Indian-origin taxi driver in New Zealand's Auckland city, as a key witness described the incident as "horrific".

Hiren Mohini, 39, was found dead with multiple stab wounds in his crashed car early yesterday and the police said they believed he was attacked by a passenger.

Detective senior Sergeant Hywel Jones said that the knife had been sent for forensic examination and 30 investigators are hunting for the killer, according to the New Zealand Herald newspaper today.

Police are also looking at CCTV footage where the passenger, who is believed in to be in his 20s last seen running toward Esplanade Rd after the crash, was picked up in the city and carrying out door to door inquiries in Mt Eden where the car rammed up against the fence.

"It was a frenzied attack... There are a large number of witnesses to interview not only from the street where the murder happened but also other locations such as the CBD where a male suspect is believed to have hired the cab driven by the deceased," Jones said.

Even as the police is actively searching for the attacker, the witness who first rushed for help, said the victim's injuries were horrific.

The Herald quoted Adam Couper as saying that Mohini was slumped over the steering wheel, bleeding from knife wounds to his neck and chest, with his foot on the accelerator. Couper was one of the first on the scene after he heard a loud thud and rushed across the road, where he saw the car rammed up against the fence.

"By the time we got there the car was already stopped but the driver was sort of slumped over and had his foot on the gas - he was doing a burn-out," Couper said.

He said one of my flatmates was in there trying to help, "moved his head back so he could breathe but there wasn't much we could do."

Describing Mohini's injuries were horrific, Couper said "He had a knife wound to his neck as well as a pretty good stab to his chest. He was bleeding pretty profusely and there was blood all over the door."

Other neighbours tried desperately to staunch Mohini's wounds with teatowels while they waited the five or six minutes for the ambulance to arrive, a period that felt like an "eternity," Couper said.

Couper and his two flatmates ran out of the door as soon as he heard the crash but didn't see anyone running from the scene.

Police have also given out detailed description of the attacker in their report.

Detective Jones said security surveillance footage was being assessed from a number of locations in what is a "complex murder investigation". Police is looking for a man in his 20s, who was seen fleeing the scene.