Police hope to speak to a sex worker who was viciously assaulted in an Auckland cemetery within the next couple of days.
The 34-year-old woman suffered injuries to her entire body during the prolonged attack, which happened about 5.30am on Saturday.
So far, police have only been able to speak to the woman between medical procedures. But they hope to take her full statement in the next two days.
She remains in Auckland City Hospital in a stable condition.
Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Newman told the Herald that the woman had been able to give "sketchy" details of the attack.
Officers would also focus on speaking with other sex workers in the area, and hoped to establish if there had been any similar attacks or suspicious behaviour in the vicinity that could be related to the attack or the person responsible.
"It was quite a substantive attack. It was nasty, very very nasty," Mr Newman said.
- By Anna Leask of the New Zealand Herald
