Man charged over alleged driveway attack

A 28-year-old man is due to appear in court today charged with assault, theft, and driving offences after a woman was allegedly attacked in her Wellington driveway yesterday.

The woman required hospital treatment for injuries and was traumatised by the assault, police said.

The man was driving another stolen car, a Nissan Sentra taken from Strathmore, when he saw the distinctive white BMW 135i coupe and followed the woman to her Newlands address.

As she got out of the car in her driveway he attacked her before stealing the car.

The car was spotted by a police patrol further north, at Mana, about 90 minutes after the attack.

Police pursued the driver and arrested him after he lost control and crashed near a roundabout.

"This is a fairly extraordinary event, an attack on a stranger, especially for the theft of a car," Detective Paul Baskett told the Dominion Post.

- NZPA