Man who raped and stabbed girl had keys around neck

A man who raped and repeatedly stabbed a teenage girl in South Auckland on New Year's Eve was wearing a set of keys on a distinctive cord around his neck, police said today.

The keys were carried on a lanyard that was either yellow or orange, and had writing on it, Detective Senior Sergeant Sue Schwalger said.

The victim, a 14-year-old Vietnamese girl, was woken between 1am and 3am last Friday by an intruder in the bedroom of her Manukau home.

She was raped, and stabbed 10 times, then dragged from the house and thrown over a fence down a 3m drop into a reserve.

She was found a short time later by her mother, who heard her calling out.

Ms Schwalger said the girl had been able to give a detailed description of the incident.

Her attacker was described as over 1.70m tall and dark-skinned, with short, curly hair and a medium build. He was wearing dark coloured clothing that would be heavily bloodstained.

"There is an extensive amount of blood at the scene and that would have been on him, so he would have had very bloodied clothes," Ms Schwalger said.

She said the attacker might also be trying to hide an injury from the assault.

Police were due to speak to the girl again today before releasing an identikit picture of the offender.

Ms Schwalger said the girl, who had been in New Zealand with her family for about two years, was lucky to be alive.

She was in Middlemore Hospital recovering from surgery and her condition was described as stable.

Police had not yet ruled out the possibility that a car stolen from Howick, Auckland, and found in the same reserve as the girl was linked to the attack.

However, a call for the car thief to come forward had yielded no result so far.

Ms Schwalger also said she was disappointed at the response to an appeal for information from the public about any suspicious activity in the area.

"It has been very slow," she said. "I'd like to hear from more people."

Police had set up a phone line for the inquiry -- 0800-GERONA, or 0800-437662.

- NZPA