Police appeal for information after home invasion

Police in west Auckland are appealing for witnesses who may have seen a man acting suspiciously in the Henderson area on Tuesday night.

An intruder attacked a 21-year-old Auckland woman in her Henderson home late on Tuesday night.

Police said the woman was left very shaken by her ordeal, and was being comforted by her friends and family.

A team of 12 officers from Henderson CIB are working the case but needed more information from the public to help catch the intruder.

It was believed the man knew the area well and would have had some form of transport, a west Auckland police spokesman said.

The woman was surprised about 10.10pm on Tuesday by a man described as stocky and aged 20 to 40.

Police said the woman did not know the man. She was attacked and he took her credit cards, forcing her to reveal the personal identification numbers.

Between 10.30pm on Tuesday and 3am yesterday, attempts were made on three separate occasions to use the cards at the Westpac ATM at the Rathgar Road shops, about 2km from the woman's home.

Detective Sergeant Murray Free said the first attempt was within eight minutes of the man leaving the house.

"He obviously had some form of transport and he continued to come back to the machine," he said.

Mr Free said the woman could not give a more detailed description of the man because it was dark and also because she was afraid to look at him.

He also declined to give details of the nature of the attack or the injuries suffered to protect the victim's privacy, but said what had happened to her was serious.

- NZPA