KEY POINTS:
The Dutch honeymoon couple who were kidnapped at gunpoint in the Bay of Islands have been inundated with offers of support from people nationwide.
Two masked men burst into the couple's campervan about 10pm on Friday at Haruru Falls near Paihia, just as the couple were getting ready
for bed.
The woman was sexually assaulted in an ordeal that stretched over several hours as the couple were driven around and forced to withdraw cash from ATM machines.
They were finally dumped in their campervan at the tiny settlement of Towai, 15km south of Kawakawa, around 3am on Saturday.
Detective Mike Pannett, heading the investigation, told NZPA the couple were being cared for by Victim Support and police staff.
He said they had received a lot of public support and messages from "the length and breadth of New Zealand".
"There were 50 messages of support this morning alone -- offers of help and assistance."
He said it was good to see so many people "concerned and distressed" over what had happened to the couple.
The forensic inquiry was continuing, and would continue for some time yet, Mr Pannett said.
This included examining the campervan the couple were in when they were abducted.
Police had received numerous calls from the public with information about the attack, which police were working through, Mr Pannett said.
"We're speaking to a number of people at the moment in respect of sightings of the van in a number of areas on State Highway 1 in the Bay of Islands through to the Kawakawa area," he told National Radio.
There were other campervans in the area of the attack, but police had heard very little from them, he added.
Mr Pannett said the offenders were described as of solid build, between 20 and 40 years of age, with a good local knowledge of the Bay of Islands area.
Other identifying features were still to be established as the men were disguised, but police believed the men may have been Maori.
At the end of their ordeal, the couple knocked on the door of a house where they were taken in.
"They just told us they had been robbed and the wife had been raped. They were both tied up and they went to money machines at bank ATMs," the house owner told the Herald on Sunday.
"They were still in shock. He was probably more shaken than her, having to watch what she was going through without him being able to do anything."
Police are advising people camping either in a tent or campervan in the Bay of Islands to use designated camping grounds and to report any suspicious behaviour to police.
- NZPA
