Police have named a man they want to interview in connection with the drugging, abduction and rape of a Tauranga woman a week ago.
Rotorua police say they want to speak to 52-year-old Michael John Bampton, of Tauranga, who has not been seen since he was recorded on a Rotorua BP service station security video last Tuesday morning.
Detective Sergeant John Wilson said the 19-year-old woman told police her ordeal began at the Red Fox Tavern at Maramarua, 21km east of Pokeno, on Monday night.
Mr Wilson said the details of what happened during the next nine hours were sketchy because the Tauranga woman had been drugged before being attacked and she was extremely traumatised by what had occurred.
"It is alleged that the attacker then bound the victim with duct tape before raping her in an unknown rural location, somewhere between Maramarua and Rotorua," Mr Wilson said.
He said they were likely to have been travelling along State Highway 27 "but there's a nine-hour gap in between where God knows where they were."
The woman's ordeal lasted until about 6.30am, when she managed to escape at a service station in Ngongotaha, near Rotorua, while her abductor was inside paying for fuel.
Mr Wilson said the man did not try to stop her and then drove off in the woman's car, a 1988 dark blue Honda Prelude.
"I think he eventually ran out of courage. He realised what he'd done I would say."
The girl then phoned her parents from the petrol station and the police were called.
Attempts last week to trace Mr Bampton or the car had failed.
"He has disappeared. Now we need the public's help to find him," Mr Wilson said.
Mr Bampton, who is known to the woman, was from Tauranga but is believed to be in the Auckland area.
Police describe Mr Bampton as Caucasian, 168cm tall and of medium build.
He has greying hair tied back in a ponytail and a large moustache.
Anyone who knows his whereabouts or the location of the Honda Prelude, registration TS5927, is asked to phone the Rotorua police on (07) 348-0099.
- NZPA and staff reporter
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