KEY POINTS:
Police want to speak to a woman who was seen to kick a toddler in the stomach as the child tried to get out of a pushchair in the town centre.
A witness saw the woman wearing a dark blue top and dark trousers kick the child about 11.50am in Blenheim yesterday.
"The child was trying to get out of the pushchair and the woman kicked it in the stomach to get it to go back down into the pushchair," a police spokeswoman said.
A woman saw what was happening, called police and tried to follow the couple.
"When they realised they were being followed they told this woman what she could do with herself and she's lost them, in a public carpark," the spokeswoman said.
Police are concerned for the safety of the child and want to speak to the couple to "discuss their parenting skills".
The woman is described as being solidly built, Polynesian or Maori and aged in her early 30s.
She was with a Caucasian man aged about 35 with a "No 2 clipper haircut" and wearing a green T-shirt.
The witness followed the pair east on Charles St, but they disappeared in a carpark at the corner of Charles and Queen Sts.
Anyone with information about the couple is urged to contact Blenheim police.
- NZPA
