KEY POINTS:
A text message may have scared off an intruder who sexually assaulted two teenage tourists in a "sickening" two-hour attack inside their campervan at a picturesque East Cape beach.
The girls from the United Kingdom were attacked in the van after leaving a party at the Tokomaru Bay Sport Club north of Gisborne, in the early hours of Friday morning.
The pair, in their late teens, were walking back to their campervan parked by the beach - just 30 metres from the club - when a car pulled over and a man began talking to them.
Police say the unarmed man forced his way through the unlocked door of the campervan, before subjecting the girls to a number of "sickening attacks" over two hours.
Detective Sergeant Theo Akroyd said one of the tourists had given her cellphone number to a man at the party, who later sent her a text while the sex attack was taking place.
When he didn't hear back from the girl, the man at the party went to the campervan to check on them and found them "freaked out and hysterical".
By that stage the attacker had already left, scared off by the text message, said Akroyd.
"The girls then went back with this other man to his house overnight because it was a nice, safe place for them. Then they went to Gisborne to report it the next morning," Akroyd said.
"It is a sickening attack from the point of view that their own safety and wellbeing was put at risk, but also because this area is regarded by tourists to be a beautiful place to come.
"The locals are quite concerned and appalled about this sort of act happening here."
Kaumatua Tate Pewhairangi was shocked such a lewd attack could happen to tourists in the sleepy, seaside settlement of Tokomaru Bay.
"I am disappointed that it happened here. Whether it was a local or outsider, it happened and it is disturbing," Pewhairangi said. "To find who is actually responsible is the mission now. If it's a local guy then that is a major concern for us."
Jenny, from the nearby Mayfair Cabin and Camping Ground, said: "The girls were just parked up on the beach in the van, here for a nice vacation. It's horrible what has happened, we don't want things like this to happen to visitors."
Despite the terrifying experience, Akroyd said the pair will continue to travel around New Zealand.
The attacker is described as a dark-skinned male with a fat face and stomach. He is thought to be in his 30s and around 1.8 metres tall with a beard, moustache and thick eyebrows.
The victims' black Sony Ericsson cellphone was also stolen during the attack.
The man's car - a light-coloured old-style saloon - was parked next to the campervan during the attack. Police are asking for any information which may help identify the attacker.
Attacks on tourists:
January 2008: Scottish tourist Karen Aim was killed while walking home at night in Taupo. A 14-year-old boy has been charged with her murder.
2006: A honeymooning Dutch couple were sexually attacked as they slept in their campervan at the Haruru Falls, west of Paihia. Keith Anthony McEwen, 30, will serve at least 10 years in prison. Co-accused Christopher Mana Manuel, 27, received nine years.
2005: German backpacker Birgit Brauer's body was found at Lucy's Gully, southwest of New Plymouth. Michael Scott Wallace was sentenced to life in prison.
2004: American tourists Patrick Dykstra and Kelsey McGinley were attacked on their first night in Whangarei Falls by teenagers who punched and kicked them.
2003: Five years after the murder of Korean tourist Jae Hyeon Kim in 2003, police have reopened the case file after receiving anonymous letters about the death. Police believe Kim, 25, was killed in Charleston, south-west of Westport. Police have also reopened an investigation into the disappearance of 64-year-old Japanese tourist Mikimoro Nakanishi in the same area.
July 2003: A Rotorua man was charged with indecent assault after he sexually assaulted a Spanish tourist.
November 12, 2003: Gordon MacKay befriended a Czech tourist in Kaikohe before beating him and robbing him. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years' jail in 2004.
