KEY POINTS:
A victim of Remuera's serial attacker says the man is out of control and hell-bent on inflicting pain on unsuspecting people.
One man is believed to be behind at least four attacks near the Waiatarua Reserve in Remuera where people have been punched off their bikes, knocked senseless and thrown from bridges.
In all of the attacks the man has said nothing to his victims and walked slowly away from the scene.
A 58-year-old cyclist, who did not want to be named, yesterday told the Herald of the January 18 assault that left him fearful the man could strike again.
"I had just come out of my house on Koraha St and was putting my feet in my clips when I saw this big, burly Maori guy walking along the road."
The cyclist said he put his head down for a moment and then looked up as the man jumped out on to the road and struck him hard in the face.
"I wasn't sure if it was a closed fist or a forearm. In rugby days we would have called it a Ponsonby handshake. It went straight into the bridge of my nose and knocked me off the bike."
The man said nothing to him and walked away in no apparent hurry.
His face bleeding, the cyclist called police and tracked the man to a property, but when officers arrived they found that an elderly lady lived there.
It was thought the attacker used the property to escape on to a walkway.
"I said at the time that I was concerned it would happen again. I'm six foot one [1.85m] and quite big and fit ... If he could do that to me ...
"It's very hard to catch these guys. They come out of nowhere and at you from behind to make sure you can't see them," he said.
"He's there to inflict damage on people. He's out of control and isn't well."
Police say there have now been four similar attacks in the area since mid-January - the worst being the brutal assault on a 63-year-old cyclist on Sunday morning.
That woman was punched and thrown over a 3m footbridge into the water below. She has a fractured eye socket and will require ongoing hospital treatment.
Detective Sergeant Mark Rowbottom of Glen Innes police said the woman was being brave.
"Her main concern is that she wants this person caught because she doesn't want anything like this happening to anyone else."
All the attacks shared similar hallmarks and, while they hadn't escalated in violence, the latest was "by far" the worst.
In the first attack, believed to be on January 13, an American tourist was punched in the head as he walked in Michaels Ave Reserve in Ellerslie.
An elderly man was also punched so hard last Saturday he was knocked out as he walked in Waiatarua Reserve about 7.15pm.
James MacDonald told One News he had been walking in the reserve when he was attacked.
"I saw in the distance ... someone running towards me. That is when my memory stops. The next thing I remember distinctly is standing on my feet again after having been knocked over somehow, looking back the way I came and seeing a man running away from me."
Police attended the incidents but could find no trace of the attacker. None of the victims was robbed.
Mr Rowbottom urged anyone who knows the man to contact police.
"Anyone who has any idea who this man is should contact the Glen Innes CIB as soon as possible before we're dealing with something even more serious."
Mr Rowbottom said the attacker was distinctive - up to 1.9m tall, in his 30s and described as fat to obese - and was believed to live near the Remuera reserve.
