Woman says she was attacked during flight

A woman says she was sexually violated on an Air New Zealand flight, and police are urging witnesses to come forward.

On Monday, the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, posted online saying she had been ‘‘sexually violated and punched in the face’’ by a man on her flight from Sydney to Auckland.

The man put his hand down her top and felt her breast, the post said. She punched him after he started laughing at her, and he punched her back.

Other passengers ignored the unfolding situation, while staff were ‘‘extremely rude and disrespectful’’, the woman said.

An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said police were dealing with the matter.

She said that while she was unable to comment on this particular case, ‘‘what we can say from a general perspective is that if an incident of this nature is reported on board one of our aircraft, we generally arrange for one of the parties to be re-seated to establish clear separation, arrange for police to meet the aircraft on arrival, and hand over the matter for the police to manage from there’’.

Police confirmed that they received ‘‘a report of an incident occurring on a flight on December 5’’.

‘‘Police are in the early stages of investigating the incident,’’ a spokeswoman said. ‘‘If anyone witnessed this incident or has information which can be of use ... we encourage them to contact Counties Manukau Police.’’

- Fairfax NZ