By DARREL MAGER
police reporter
Police fear a serial sexual predator has struck again, this time dragging a woman off Queen St and into an inner-city park that serves as one of his hunting grounds.
In the latest attack - one of five that detectives say may be the work of two attackers working separately - a 20-year-old woman was attacked in the early hours while waiting for a friend outside a closed Queen St nightclub.
She was dragged into Myers Park and viciously assaulted. Two men near the area heard her screams for help and confronted the attacker, preventing a rape.
Constable Dean Robinson said there "was a bit of a scuffle but unfortunately he got away. Their actions almost certainly prevented a much more serious attack."
The woman they rescued was so traumatised that the Saturday morning attack was not reported to police until Monday, when a family member called them.
The victim had been unable to give a description of her attacker or the two men "in their 20s" who saved her.
"It is important that these two men contact the inquiry team to help us verify the attacker's identification and provide us with as many details of the incident as possible," Constable Robinson said.
Four other attacks have been reported since November, in Myers and Albert Parks, just 500m apart, and police have stepped up night patrols of the parks.
Two of the assaults ended in rape, one while another man and woman stood watching.
The attacks were:
* November 13, Myers Park, 10 pm. A 35-year-old woman is dragged into a toilet block and raped.
* January 21, Albert Park, 11 pm. A 17-year-old woman is punched and sexually violated. Her screams for help attract two men who chase the attacker off.
* January 22, Albert Park, 2 am. A 19-year-old woman is raped and her attacker then walks off with a man and woman.
* February 7, Albert Park, 11.30 pm. A 22-year-old is attacked from behind and dragged into bushes. She fights back, hits the man in the groin and escapes.
Constable Robinson said there had been a good response from the public after sketches of the suspects appeared in the Herald.
Sexual predator strikes again in park
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