62-year-old woman knocked unconscious

The 62-year-old woman was walking through Rotorua's Fenton Park when she was attacked from behind. File photo / NZ Herald

A Rotorua woman is recovering from a head injury after she was knocked unconscious by a man on a bicycle.

The woman, 62, was walking through Fenton Park on Monday about 11am when a man approached her from behind.

Rotorua police Inspector Ed Van Den Broek said witnesses had helped the woman, who was knocked unconscious.

"This sort of stuff doesn't happen every day," Mr Van Den Broek said.

The woman's daughter wrote on Facebook on Monday that her mother's "head was smashed open and her whole right side is a mess".

A 24-year-old man has been arrested and appeared in Rotorua District Court yesterday charged with possession of a glass pipe used for smoking methamphetamine, robbery and possession of an offensive weapon, namely a knuckleduster. He is due back in court tomorrow.