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This is the moment a have-a- go-hero fought off a knifeman with a bottle of vodka in a Liverpool shop.

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A masked man walked up to the counter and pulled out a large kitchen knife behind a customer’s back.

The CCTV footage shows the suspect confronting the shopkeeper with the giant knife behind the counter at SBM Food and Wine, in Derby Lane, Old Swan.

Brave dad-of-two Suranga Sooriyabandara told the ECHO that when the raider threatened to shoot him he grabbed a bottle of vodka to defend himself.

The two men duelled briefly, when the suspect held the knife like a sword, until Suranga knocked the weapon out of the man’s hand with the bottle of spirits.

The suspect, who was also caught on CCTV assembling his bizarre red mask outside the shop, fled empty-handed and ran off down Derby Lane.

The attempted robbery took place on August 8.

Mr Sooriyabandara suspects the knifeman may have returned to his shop on Wednesday to buy a bottle of Fanta.

He told the ECHO that the attempted robbery brought back painful memories of the day his friend, Mahesh Wickramasingha, was killed while working in a Huyton shop.

The attack, which took place in June, 2011, was met with revulsion by Merseyside’s Sri Lankan community.

Mr Sooriyabandara and his brother Saman both contributed to the fund set up to help Mahesh’s family, who lived in Sri Lanka.

Gambling addict Sam Harrison, 19, admitted manslaughter after his knife plunged into the neck of 30-year-old Mahesh Wickramasingha.

Following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court, he was cleared of murder.

Mr Sooriyabandara said: ”The knife was over a foot long, and he said he had a gun, so I was worried.

“I grabbed the bottle of vodka when he said he was going to shoot me.

“I managed to knock the weapon from his hand, which has now been handed in to the police.

“I knew Mahesh and was shocked by his death. I live above this shop with my wife and two young children, and I am now worried about our safety.”

A 37-year-old Liverpool man has been charged with attempted robbery and is set to appear before Liverpool Magistrates court.

tom.duffy@trinitymirror.com