Police were last night still trying to find a man said to have tried to drown his ex-girlfriend in the surf in what they believe was a "serious" assault on the beach off Napier's Marine Parade.
The attack was reported about 1am yesterday after a man police describe as a "good Samaritan" took the woman to get help at popular Hastings St Irish pub The Rose, formerly known as Rosie O'Grady's and a few hundred metres from the water's edge, the scene of the alleged attack.
The Rose manager Vanessa Zietsman told Hawke's Bay Today the woman was "damp", had no footwear, had a gashed foot, a bruised lip and marks to her neck, indicating she had been in a struggle.
The woman initially told security staff she was locked out of accommodation where she was staying in Napier but Ms Zietsman said: "We thought, 'this is not right', and called the police."
Explanations for her condition soon emerged and the woman told the staff her ex-boyfriend had tried to drown her, and it appeared she had escaped.
Detective Sergeant Jason Crowe, of Hawke's Bay CIB, said the woman was treated by a doctor, but was not taken to hospital.
Many details were unclear as interviews had not been conducted, police having focused yesterday on a search on the beach where the attack was said to have happened and securing the safety of the woman.
She was 20 and the alleged assailant about 32. Neither were from Napier.
Ms Zietsman said earlier in the evening staff had been approached by an accommodation provider alerting them to the possibility of a man in the city centre who had been to a backpackers looking for a particular woman.
It seemed it was a woman trying to avoid the man but neither the bar staff nor police were able to say it was linked to the incident on the beach.
Mr Crowe praised the efforts of a man who had intervened in a situation involving the woman, and helped her to The Rose bar a short distance from the bar.
"It was a member of the community who went to her aid," the detective said.
"He knew something wasn't right, and he made the effort to do something about it, and made sure that he took her with him."
With that man also still to be interviewed, details weren't clear, but Mr Crowe said: "That's great for someone to jump up. It was certainly enough of a disturbance for him to think: I'm going to help sort it out."
Mr Crowe said some "items of interest" were found in the beach search.
The wanted man is "known to police" and understood to be from Rotorua and Gisborne, with contacts in Hawke's Bay.
He was, however, described by one police officer as "of no fixed abode" .