Attacker fantasised and may attack again, police say

A police profile of the rapist, who brutally attacked a south Auckland woman in her home last week, shows a man who fantasises about being a lover, partner or friend of his victim.

Detective Sergeant Dave Henwood, who specialises in producing psychological profiles of criminals, said the man who raped and sexually abused a 37-year-old woman for five hours last week, would have watched his victim before he tricked his way into her house.

The woman may also have been only one of several targets the man had identified, said Mr Henwood.

Police said the woman feared she would die after the man tricked his way into her Pukekohe home, handcuffed her, put a pillow case over her head and raped her several times a week ago. They said he was a "filthy savage" who must be caught before he attacked again.

She escaped when the man forced her into her own car and drove to a nearby cash machine to get money.

Mr Henwood said he was a classic "exploiter rapist" rather than an abuser rapist.

"It means he wants to be a lover, partner, or friend of the victim. That is his fantasy."

He said that also fitted in with the way the attack was planned.

"These guys surveil, peep and peer and target victims."

He said the attackers may have watched several targets and picked the best to attack on the night.

"If they go wandering around the streets on the night they are going to carry out the attack, they go to one address. They may have visitors or may be out but they (the attackers) have more than one on their list."

He said the man would have a pattern of offending.

"You have a guy who wants to go out and fulfil his fantasy. The reality is that the fantasy is never going to be fulfilled, therefore he is going to go out again -- so he is going to be a repeat offender."

He said the attacker may be emotionally depressed and hard to live with for a while.

"Then he is going to come out of it the other side.

"He is going to drop back into whatever routine he is going to have and he is going to fire up again."

Mr Henwood compared the attacker with south Auckland serial rapist Joe Thompson who was jailed for 30 years in 1995 on 129 charges of rape, assault, abduction against 50 women over 12 years. He was one of the country's worst sex offenders.

"He (Thompson) wasn't as classic an exploiter as this guy is but the same kind of theories can be applied.

"He made it clear he wasn't going to stop until he was stopped."

Mr Henwood said the Pukekohe attacker would not go into a house containing more than one person, to reduce the risk of being caught although he knew getting caught was inevitable.

"He feels bad about what he has done. He knows he is going to get caught.

"Someone's going to come knocking on his door. It's inevitable."

Mr Henwood advised people to be aware of peepers and prowlers or people on property.

"He is going to carry on doing that even if he doesn't offend.

"He might give it a miss for a week or so while the police are very active in the area, but it is going to fire up again and if he is not doing it there, he is doing it somewhere else."

He said the attacker's partner or former partners would know of his violence and his relationships would probably be short-lived.

However, partners may not know he was an attacker.

The attacks were about power and control and proving to himself that even with a partner at home he could go out and have a friend or a lover.

- NZPA