A motel owner in northern NSW has today described how a stabbing attack by a teenager left him fighting for life.

Mick Cikota, 52, was allegedly stabbed by a 13-year-old during a struggle at his Moree motel last month, leaving him with wounds to his arm and torso.

Cikota, who has lived at the premises with his family for 28 years, told 2GB’s Ben Fordham he thought his “life was over” during the confrontation.

His ordeal began when five boys, aged from 11 to 15, allegedly broke into the motel.

Cikota confronted one of them in his 86-year-old mother-in-law’s bedroom as the accused attacker held a knife over her, fearing he would “cut her throat”.

”When I ran into the room, he had a knife over the top of my 86-year-old mother-in-law, and that’s why we acted so quickly … I was fearing for her life,” he told 2GB.

When Cikota wrestled with the boy, he suffered multiple knife wounds, and says he was “bleeding profusely” as his alleged attacker told him to let go.

“I thought that’s it, my life is over.”

Cikota said police and paramedics arrived and he was treated for his injuries before being taken to hospital in Sydney.

The 13-year-old boy was charged with multiple offences, including wounding.

He was later bailed by the children’s court.

The alleged attack happened as the NSW government blocked an opposition push in parliament to tighten the state’s bail laws.

Cikota accused Labor Premier Chris Minns and Attorney General Michael Daley of having “blood on their hands”.

“They had a chance to change the law,” he said.

“None of them had the guts to … keep these kids behind bars.”