Man facing thirty counts described as a 'serial rapist'

A man charged with three abductions and sexual attacks has been described by a police officer as a serial rapist.

The 30-year-old South Aucklander appeared in the Waitakere District Court yesterday on 30 charges - including rape, kidnapping and aggravated robbery - relating to four young women.

He was arrested on Saturday in connection with two rapes on June 1 and June 2. Yesterday he was also charged in connection with a third rape on May 26.

Police say the May attack happened at night as an 18-year-old woman was getting into her car on Buckland Rd, Mangere.

She was threatened with a screwdriver before being driven around South Auckland, where she said the man raped, indecently assaulted and sexually violated her.

Last Thursday, police say, the same man struck again.

It was 8pm when he approached two sisters, aged 12 and 17, as they were getting into their car at the Manukau City shopping centre. He allegedly forced the older girl to drive to a nearby street, where she was sexually violated. They were then driven out to West Auckland, where the 17-year-old says she was indecently assaulted and raped again.

Police say the man threatened to stab her if she did not comply with his demands to perform indecent acts.

Her 12-year-old sister, who was tied up in the car, was threatened but not sexually attacked.

The next night police say the man approached a 29-year-old woman as she was getting into her car in Park Rd, opposite Auckland Hospital. She was driven to West Auckland, where she was subjected to a similar ordeal.

In all three cases, personal items, including mobile phones and wallets, were stolen.

The man was said to have been armed with a screwdriver on two of the occasions and a piece of sharpened metal on the third.

Yesterday two of the complainants were in court for his appearance. He stood with his back to the public gallery and did not look at them.

His lawyer, Martin Hine, sought name suppression but Judge Cecilie Rushton declined the application.

She was then forced to grant an interim suppression after Mr Hine applied to appeal to the High Court. His reasons for wanting the name suppression are suppressed, as are the identities of the complainants.

The man, whom Mr Hine described as "quite unwell", was remanded in custody until today, when he is due to undergo psychiatric assessment.

Outside the court, Detective Sergeant Megan Goldie described him as a serial rapist.