A shocked family have described how armed gatecrashers turned a child’s birthday party into a scene reminiscent of a horror film when they stormed into a house and repeatedly stabbed a man.

Hundreds of teenagers forced their way into a girl’s 14th birthday party in Nottingham Road, South Croydon, on Saturday night and knifed Du’wayne Holness at least four times after he tried to throw them out.

The 24-year-old's family today told how they believed his attackers tried to kill him by stabbing him in the heart.

Mr Holness, of Waddon, was taken to St George's Hospital in Tooting with serious injuries to his back, arm, side and chest.

RELATED: Teenagers with knives and bats gatecrash child's birthday party and stab man, 24, five times

Speaking outside the house today, his sister, Shurleene Fraser, 35, said the injuries could have been even worse if it had not been for the leather jacket her brother was wearing at the time. 

She said: “He’s so lucky, because they tried to stab him in the heart.

"[The paramedics] pulled up his top… I have never seen wounds like that. It was like they were cutting meat.

“When it happens to you, it’s so surreal. It’s like watching a film. It’s different seeing the blood, the gore.”

The party was being held to celebrate the 14th birthday of Mrs Fraser’s daughter Tai’ler.

But a happy gathering of about 30 people turned to horror after an estimated 200 or more teenagers poured into the street.

She said: "When I saw [Tai’ler’s] face, I knew something was wrong. I said at 9.30pm, ‘End the party’. It was mad, it was absolutely crazy. The whole house – it was never meant to be like this.

"The ceiling was cracking - it was literally moving up and down."

Mrs Fraser said a group of older boys, who had entered the party by climbing over a side wall and started smoking weed inside, started being aggressive when asked to leave.

When her brother tried to eject them through the front doo, they “jumped him” on the front steps, she said.

It later emerged that another boy was also slashed in the arm with a knife inside the house, and at first Mrs Fraser was unaware her brother had been attacked.

She said it looked like the scene of a “mass murder” because of how much blood was on the floor inside the house.

Mr Holness remained standing for some time after the attack and the extent of his injuries only became clear when paramedics arrived.

As well as the loss of the blood the knife had come very close to puncturing a lung, according to his brother-in-law Joshua Fraser.

Mr Holness, a web designer, underwent surgery in hospital and remains in a serious but stable condition.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police’s knife crime team Trident are investigating the attack. No arrests have been made.

Mrs Fraser said: “My brother is stabbed up, we don’t know if he’s going to live or die. The knife must have been huge. Why would you bring that to a 14-year-old’s birthday party?”

After the house had been cleared of partygoers, Mrs Fraser and a group of adults drove to KFC in West Croydon, where they had been told the group of boys had gone.

She is convinced she came face-to-face with the people who attacked her brother, but was forced to call the police when her group found themselves surrounded in the restaurant.

She said: “When we saw them in KFC, its like they had hatred in their eyes. They were high on drugs."

Mrs Fraser said that one of the parents who came to pick up her child had driven straight from comforting the mother of David Darko, who was stabbed to death in South Norwood recreation ground last weekend.

She said: “It’s getting closer and closer to home, whether you’re black, white, Chinese, Asian – it can happen to anybody.

"This is madness, it needs to stop."

At least adult eight members of the family had been at the house to supervise the party and celebrate Tai-ler’s birthday.

She said: “My dad, he’s in his eighties, and he was just traumatised.

“We do something good for children, but there’s no morals, no respect, no love.”

Mr Fraser, shaking his head in disbelief, said: “They’re kids, they’re just little kids. It’s just a civilised party, a couple of her friends.

"Then some guys come to crash it, its got out of hand – then before we knew it, I heard my brother-in-law got stabbed.

“You could see the guys that turned up were older.”

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "On Saturday, January 30 at about 9.15pm, police were called to reports of stabbing at a residential address on Nottingham Road, Croydon.

"Officers and the London Ambulance Service attended and found a 24-year old man who had suffered stab wounds.

"He was taken to hospital where he remains in a stable condition.

"At this early stage it is believed a number of teenagers were attending a supervised party at the location when a disturbance took place."

No arrests have been made.

Anyone with information is asked to call Trident detectives on 020 7109 8622 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Did you see anything? Call the newsdesk on 020 8722 6388 or email daniel.omahony@newsquest.co.uk