Nine CEO revealed as witness who helped teen escape thugs in Manly brawl

“It was natural instinct – probably a stupid instinct as my wife told me afterward,” Stanton said.

“I just held the door and said ‘No, no, you’re not coming in’.”

Young males from the mob twice spat in Stanton’s face as they tried to menace him into moving out of the way.

Others pushed him and yelled out, ordering him to open the door.

“How I didn’t lose my cool and give them a smack, I don’t know,” he said. “That’s probably what I’m most proud of.”

Over the weekend, police released images of Stanton and a second man who helped block the door into the restaurant, asking for help to identify them.

Stanton has since made contact with Northern Beaches Police.

NSW Police established strikeforce Crookhaven to investigate the brawl and investigators are picking through CCTV.

They are still working to track a second man, who helped Stanton block the door, who is described as Caucasian, aged in his 40s, wearing a blue T-shirt and denim shorts.

Stanton said the attackers were mostly young, teenagers to young adults, and eventually gave up trying to get the boy sheltering in the restaurant.

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They left as police arrived and began rounding them up.

Police found a large knife in the street as the group dispersed – Stanton said he hadn’t even thought the assailants might have been armed.

“It was quite shocking to see, quite frightening, I’ve never seen anything like it in the 15 years I’ve been going down there,” Stanton said.

“Running over there was a bit stupid, but I was just trying to do the right thing.”

“What would have happened if they got in?”

One local couple who had been enjoying dinner in the area said they spotted the group appearing to kick and punch a young teenage boy in the middle of the street.

The couple, who posted about their experience on social media, said they rushed into the street to try to stop the assault.

Simon, who did not provide his last name, said the group turned on his partner Renee when she tried to intervene.

“I was bottled and Renee was spat on multiple times,” he said. “Then we ran him across to [restaurant Fratelli Fresh] who sheltered him.”

“The couple helped to block the entrance to the restaurant while the teen, who Simon said had been “screaming for his life”, escaped.

Police found a large knife on the street when they arrived to disperse the group. No arrests have yet been made.

– with Penry Buckley

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