Rapist asked to borrow woman's phone

Police have revealed that the man who subjected an Auckland woman to a five-hour rape ordeal tricked his way into her house by asking to use her phone.

Officers had declined to give details of how he got into the woman's Pukekohe house on Tuesday night, but today they released more details at a press briefing.

The man knocked on the woman's ranch-slider door and asked to use the phone. She locked the door and went to get her portable phone, unlocking the ranch-slider to hand it to him.

While he used the phone, she again locked the door. But when he had finished and she opened the door so he could hand it back, he overpowered her and forced his way into the house.

Police also said today that he changed into some of her clothes, including a pair of jeans while at the house.

They said they were profiling the attacker and believed they would catch him soon.

Yeasterday Detective Senior Sergeant Neil Grimstone said the man demanded the woman look at his face and threatened to kill her throughout the horrific sexual attack.

The 37-year-old woman was subjected to a prolonged physical and sexual assault at the hands of a man police described as a "filthy savage".

The woman refused to look at her attacker's face, fearing he would kill her if she did.

A team of 45 police officers is hunting the man who at around 9pm on Tuesday tricked his way into the woman's Pukekohe home.

Mr Grimstone said the woman was assaulted, handcuffed and a pillow case put over her head.

The man, who smelt of stale beer, then abused the woman for the next four to five hours.

"Clearly it's not a random attack. There has been a degree of planning. It would appear she has been watched," Mr Grimstone said.

The woman suffered massive bruising to her upper body, and weapons were used.

Mr Grimstone said the attacker's next step may have been to kill the woman.

"Really we're fortunate that it's not [a homicide], and I think that's simply due to the woman's courage and her brave actions in the face of what can only be described as absolutely despicable.

"She is a very brave and lucky woman to be alive."

Still handcuffed

After the sustained assault, the man drove the victim, who was still handcuffed, to a money machine in the Pukekohe town centre.

Mr Grimstone said the woman managed to distract the man and ran to a petrol station on the corner of Edinburgh and Tobin Sts.

Station manager Neil Wilson said the woman was in a distressed state.

Staff who were working that night had told him the woman had cuts to her face and a swollen eye.

The workers locked the door to the shop in case the man was chasing her, and then called for police and an ambulance.

They made her a cup of tea.

"She was shaking and very distraught," Mr Wilson said.

Police said the man sped off from the ATM in the woman's Ford Mondeo station wagon but crashed it on Paerata Rd, which leads out of Pukekohe towards Drury, and ran from the area.

"This filthy savage needs to be held to account and he needs to be caught and caught quickly," Mr Grimstone said.

"In the space of four or five hours he has completely destroyed this woman's life and no female should ever be subjected to what this woman has gone through."

The woman told police she did not look at the man because she thought that if she did, he would carry out his threats to kill her.

"That is why she didn't look at him, although he invited her to on a number of occasions," Mr Grimstone said.

The woman's horrific ordeal had similarities to the vicious attack on a 24-year-old woman in Napier in January.

In both cases the men tricked their way into the women's homes after knocking on the door and then repeatedly raped and assaulted them over a period of hours.

Trevor Eagle was last month sentenced to preventive detention for the Hawke's Bay crime.

The woman suffered injuries to such an extent that doctors had to examine her twice as more bruising emerged, Mr Grimstone said.

Police will visit every home in a large area around the woman's home in the hunt for the man. The inquiry was focusing around the man being a local but police had not ruled out that he may live outside the Franklin township.

Forensic staff were combing the house and car for evidence but Mr Grimstone said it was too early to comment on DNA samples. He urged anyone with information about the man to contact police.

"I'd have to hope he wouldn't [attack again], however I don't have a crystal ball and clearly the sooner we get our hands on him the better things will be for people in Pukekohe and the greater Auckland area."