Good samaritan left with fractured jaw

The kindness of a man who offered help to a fellow motorist on the Queenstown side of the Crown Range was repaid with assault and robbery.

About 10.30pm on Friday the driver stopped after noticing a man signalling for help using a cellphone torch.

After getting out of his car, the victim was asked to look at an issue with the other man’s vehicle, but when he turned away he was punched several times by the offender, who grabbed his backpack and drove off in an unknown direction.

Detective Sergeant Derek Shaw of Central Otago CIB said the man suffered a fractured jaw.

‘‘This was a cowardly attack on a wellmeaning person who was trying to help someone he thought was in need,’’ he said.

The offender was around 183cm tall (6ft), aged between 25 and 35, of stocky build, brown-skinned, and had a bushy hairstyle. His vehicle was a black or darkcoloured four-door saloon.

It is possible the offender was with others not seen by the victim, or that he may have tried to flag down other passersby before or after this incident.

The offender may also have stopped in the Queenstown/Arrowtown area or in Wanaka either before or after the assault.

The victim has undergone surgery and is recovering.

Police are particularly keen to hear from anyone who may have seen or found a grey backpack, which was stolen from the victim and may have been discarded after the robbery.

The backpack contained a fleece top bearing the logo ‘‘Niagara Timber’’.