Police say a motive more sinister than abduction may have been behind an attack in Lower Hutt on Saturday night.
A 19-year-old woman was walking along Cambridge Terrace after getting off a train at Woburn Station about 9.30pm when a man grabbed her hair and tried forcing her into the back of a light-coloured, four-door car.
She escaped and called family with a phone card offered to her by another man.
Detective Sergeant Dean Simpson says they'd like to speak with that person and anyone else with information.
He says the offender, who was wearing a dark jacket and is thought to be in his twenties and of Indian or Somali descent, may have raped the woman had she not escaped.
Mr Simpson says the woman has not suffered any major physical injuries but is very upset about the incident.
