Adelaide CBD security guard Harshpal Sharma says he was just doing his job when he was stabbed

A CBD worker at the centre of a frightening stabbing said it was the third time he’d been threatened with a blade in just a few weeks.

A security guard is taken to hospital after being stabbed at an Adelaide CBD mall. Picture: 9News

Stabbed city security guard Harshpal “Harry” Sharma says he was trying to save a shop worker from a vicious attack when he was allegedly knifed by a boy in a city mall on Friday night.

The City Cross worker he saved, Braedon Webster, has dubbed Adelaide “Gotham City” because of soaring crime and revealed he had been threatened by knife-wielding people three times in the past three weeks.

Police on Saturday night arrested an O’ Sullivan Beach boy, 14, and a Flinders Park boy, 15, for aggravated assault cause harm and aggravated affray respectively.

Both have been refused bail and will face the Adelaide Youth Court on Monday.

Mr Sharma, 35, is recovering in the Royal Adelaide Hospital from a stab wound to his abdomen after being attacked by a group of suspected shoplifters at City Cross.

“When a staff member is trusting you, you’re going to protect them – that’s what I did,” Mr Sharma said.

“I protected Braedon and I get stabbed myself.”

Harshpal Sharma, 35 in Royal Adelaide Hospital the security guard who was stabbed after confronting a gang of alleged teenage shoplifters at City Cross Arcade Picture: Evangeline Polymeneas

Mr Webster, 25, had noticed a group of youths acting suspiciously in the shop where he works.

A worker called the police and the centre’s “much loved” security guard Mr Sharma, who came to confront the alleged thieves aged between 10 and 16 years old.

“It just instantly took off – it went zero to 100,” Mr Webster said.

The Ingle Farm security guard and Mr Webster allegedly tried to get control of the situation, with both men pushing the youths out of the shopping centre.

That’s when one of the boys allegedly took a knife out of his pants.

Mr Webster’s main thought was of getting back home to his partner, Bianca Minervini.

Heroically, Mr Sharma came “out of nowhere” putting himself in-between Mr Webster and the knife-welding teenager.

Braedon Webster heroically threw the teenager off Mr Sharma after he was allegedly stabbed. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Mr Sharma was standing over the teenager when he was stabbed in the right side of his body.

“I didn’t even feel it,” Mr Sharma told The Advertiser from his bed at the Royal Adelaide Hospital on Saturday.

After Mr Sharma had chased off the group of youths, he looked down to see he was covered in blood.

“I (felt) really wet in my shirt,” he said.

Now he’s nursing not only the stab wound but a 30cm cut straight down his stomach – from surgery to save his internal organs.

“I am a good guard,” he said. “(Some guards) call the cops when the situation’s gone bad and stay away – I’m not like that.

“I’m standing in front of the staff members, standing the middle all the time. That’s what I do – I do my job properly, I’m not hiding.”

After witnessing his “brother” being stabbed, Mr Webster sprung into action himself also bravely tackling the teen.

“I told him to drop the f**king knife and he wouldn’t drop the knife,” Mr Webster told The Advertiser from his St Clair home.

He ended up snatching the knife from the teen, throwing it out of reach.

“I still had the kid … and then it clicked … Harry’s been stabbed,” the 25-year-old said.

“I just let go of the kid, knowing I had the knife.”

The scene at City Cross where a man was stabbed.

Mr Webster said it had been the third time he’d been threatened with a knife in the past few weeks, describing one unrelated incident when a customer said he would stab him if he “got any closer” after he threw merchandise at Mr Webster’s head.

Watch Doctor, Robert Kulenicz from City Cross after the stabbing incident last night. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Mr Sharma said he must be strong while patrolling City Cross because if criminals sense that he’s getting “scared” they will attack.

“I show myself in City Cross as a tough person. If I want to cry, I want to cry to myself inside – not in front of the public. My job is a security guard.

“It’s not an easy job at all, but when you step back they give you more of a hard time.”

City Cross shop owner Robert Kulenicz said he had noticed increasing issues in the city.

“I get more hassle in my shop than when I was a security officer … I’ve been a bouncer and now all I do is repair watches,” he said.

“I’m an ex-body-builder and I’m a strong guy, but every time I come into work I am apprehensive for an altercation.”

Mr Kulenicz said the rising crime needed to be “nipped in the bud”.

The scene at City Cross where a man was stabbed.

The stabbing emerged days after The Advertiser revealed how crime in the CBD and North Adelaide had more than doubled in a decade, while violent attacks had surged more than 350 per cent in six years.

An analysis of monthly police data shows shoplifting has almost quadrupled in more than a decade, to its highest level in 12 years.

Official figures show 1643 “theft from shop” offences were recorded last year, compared to 435 in 2010. It has surged more than a third in the past year.

Australian Retailers Association chief executive officer, Paul Zahra, said shoplifting was a “significant problem”.

He said it was not only cost-of-living pressures but a new trend was organised criminals stealing from stores to resell it on social media or black markets.

“All retailers have identified elevated levels of shoplifting are occurring,” he said.

“It means we all end up paying for it as retailers look to recoup that cost through increasing their prices.

“It is something as a community we all need to fight, with customers, retailers and police all working together to fight the battle.”

He said dealing with customer aggression has become a “core skill” for retailers.

Originally published as Adelaide CBD security guard Harshpal Sharma says he was just doing his job when he was stabbed