Hitching teen victim of sex attack

Palmerston North police are appealing for information as they investigate a sexual attack on 17-year-old hitch hiker on the outskirts of the city overnight.

Police said the woman was hitch hiking out of the city between 11pm and 12.20am when a vehicle with an unknown number of occupants stopped opposite her. One of the occupants then walked across the road and spoke to the woman.

The pair walked a short distance before the woman was dragged into an isolated area off the road and sexually assaulted. The attacker then fled in the vehicle.

Police said the victim waved down a passing police patrol a short time later and although emotionally shaken was helping with the investigation.

Police and ESR scientists were to examine the scene this morning.

- NZPA