KEY POINTS:
Queenstown police are looking for a man who took advantage of a power blackout last night, assaulting a young woman and trying to drag her into nearby bushes.
The 25-year-old German woman, in Queenstown on a working holiday, was walking home on Stanley Street, near the intersection with Sydney Street about 1.30am.
The man came up behind her and grabbed her in a headlock.
"She screamed and fought her way free from the person and ran off," Detective Sergeant Grahme Bartlett said.
He said there would likely have been people around who may have seen something.
"It is the main street out of town. [But] it was just after the power blackout which didn't help it. There was no street lighting."
He said police were very concerned because of the implied sexual overtones of the attack and called for anyone who saw a man acting suspiciously around that time to contact police.
- NZPA
