Women living alone warned to be extra cautious

Women living alone have been told to be extra cautious when strangers come knocking.

The advice follows the attack on a 37-year-old woman, who was subjected to more than four hours of physical and sexual abuse in her home in Pukekohe, south of Auckland.

Inquiry head Detective Senior Sergeant Neil Grimstone yesterday described the ordeal the woman underwent as "chilling and depraved" and labelled the offender "one very sick unit".

The attacker had tricked his way into the woman's house on Tuesday night by knocking on a sliding glass door and asking to use the phone.

Mr Grimstone said the woman had locked the door as she went to get her portable phone to give to the man.

But when the man handed the phone back, he pushed his way in.

"I think there's a clear message there that any female who lives alone and has someone come to the door she doesn't recognise -- don't open the thing, call the police if you have any concerns," Mr Grimstone said.

"She [the victim] was very security conscious, but he still managed to get in even when she took some measures to ensure her safety."

Mr Grimstone said the victim was a courageous woman and he had been humbled in his dealings with her over the past three days.

He also said criminal profilers believed police could be hunting for a serial rapist who had stalked his victim for some time.

The believed he was likely to continue to offend until he was caught.

The woman escaped after the man forced her into her own car and drove her to a money machine to try to get cash out of her account.

As they approached the money machine, she dropped her bank cards in the car as a diversion, which gave her enough time to flee to a nearby BP service station.

The man drove off but crashed the car after a short distance and took off on foot. He was described as an unshaven Maori in his late 30s or early 40s, with wrinkles around his eyes and smelling of stale beer.

He was reported as wearing a black baseball cap with white trim, a green hooded nylon jacket, dark pants, a black woollen scarf and black woollen gloves.

But as he left the woman's house, he had on a blue pair of women's jeans and a black windbreaker jacket, items he had taken from the property.

Mr Grimstone said police phone lines had been running hot with calls from the public and numerous suspects had been nominated.

He continued his appeal for anyone with information to ring police on 09-2950220.

- NZPA