Man accused of raping girl, 13, appears in court

The man charged with abducting, drugging and raping a 13 year-old girl in Waterview on Sunday was given name suppression after a brief court appearance today.

At Auckland District Court this morning, Justice of the Peace Ken McKay remanded the 34-year-old drain layer in custody until 2.15pm tomorrow, when his lawyer will make an application for bail.

The officer heading the inquiry, Detective Andy King, told media outside court that the police would oppose bail.

He said police had not yet spoken to the girl and were waiting to call in a specialist interviewer.

The man faces five charges - sexual violation by rape, two counts of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, abduction for sexual connection, and aggravated wounding by stupefying.

Police yesterday said the girl, who was dragged into a reserve and attacked around 11am on Sunday, was "not in any condition" to be interviewed.

Mr King said yesterday that the girl was "hiding away" with relatives.

He said she had a "very quick" medical assessment yesterday.

"But she's still very upset and not even really in any condition to talk to us.

"She's with her family, and hopefully she's had a reasonable night. It's a very distressing time for them."

Her attacker had verbally harassed her as he followed her from a group of shops in Pt Chevalier to a BP service station on Great North Rd about 10am, Mr King said.

Police said the girl approached a woman filling her car at the station and begged for help, but the woman told her to keep away from the man and drove off.

Mr King said today that police are still looking for the woman who was at the petrol station. He said police are looking through CCTV footage to identify her.

"I don't believe she really realised what was going on and she's done nothing wrong and we just want to speak to her as a witness and nothing more," Mr King said.

Her attacker made a purchase at the service station, from which police obtained security camera images of him.

He then followed the girl to the reserve.

"He ended up grabbing her by the arm and dragging her into some nearby bush area and raping her," Mr King said yesterday.

He said police had had calls from other people offering information about the incident.

"We received quite a number of calls," he said. "There's plenty to follow up on."