An attack on a woman as she walked home near Victoria University in Wellington early this morning was sexually motivated, police say.
The woman was walking up the City to Sea stairs from the Terrace to the Boyd Wilson Field when she was attacked by an unknown man about 1.55am.
The victim screamed and fought off the attacker then ran down towards the Terrace.
Detective Senior Sergeant Warwick McKee, of the Wellington crime squad, said police were very concerned about the offender preying on women in the community.
The man was using the isolated area, which was a common route to university accommodation, to wait for woman walking alone and then attack them.