Bottled, then burgled, it just wasn't the best of nights for a young Rotorua man on Saturday.
It all began when the man, in his 20s, answered a knock at the front door of his King Street home about 11pm.
"As he did so he was pushed backwards into a couch where he was bottled by three assailants," Constable Chris Kerekere, of Rotorua CIB, said today.
After a short struggle the man, bleeding from head wounds, ran to a neighbour's home for assistance.
While he was there waiting for police, two other people arrived at his home and started removing items.
Mr Kerekere said it appeared the assault was in retaliation for another incident which had happened at the man's home earlier in the evening and involving the man's flatmate.
"It appears that the two thieves were unrelated to the bottle attack," he said.
The victim was treated at Rotorua Hospital where he received 38 stitches to his head.
Mr Kerekere appealed to anyone with information about the assault or the burglary to contact him.
