Police are making a fresh appeal for help in catching a man who attacked a sleeping woman at a Gisborne campground.
The A&P Showgrounds in Gisborne. Photo: Google Maps
The 24-year-old woman was attacked shortly after midnight on New Year's Day at the A&P Showgrounds camp site on Main Road.
The attacker was chased away by other campers who heard her screams and escaped in an SUV with other people.
Detective Sergeant Steve Smith told Summer report this morning that it appeared the man was at the campground seeking out a lone woman to prey on.
"Our main focus is on identifying obviously the attacker, and to do that, part of that will be identifying the vehicle he was in, the light-coloured SUV vehicle. The attacker has got into the passenger side of that vehicle when they left, and there was also some noise coming from that vehicle while the attacker was not in it."
Other campers reported that property had been stolen from their tents, and police said yesterday the break-ins at the other tents may also have been sexually motivated.
