Police have taken a man into custody after a midwifery student was assaulted outside Auckland's Middlemore Hospital last month.
Police had previously released CCTV images of the man in an effort to locate him.
The image showed a man wearing a dark jacket with the hood pulled up, khaki shorts and dark sneakers. He also has a distinctive tattoo on his right leg police highlighted by zooming in.
"Counties Manukau Police can advise a male previously sought in relation to an incident outside Middlemore Hospital on 14 August has been located," a spokesperson said this morning.
"He was taken into custody without incident.
"We thank those members of the public who provided information."
Shortly after the incident, a Te Whatu Ora spokesperson said the student wasn't injured in the assault and was "doing as well as possible in the circumstances".
"We're obviously upset and dismayed that this has happened to one of our staff — no one should have to experience this type of incident going to or from work."
An email sent to staff and obtained by Breakfast advised them to park in well-lit areas, walk in groups to and from their vehicles, and to call security if they unsafe in order to be escorted to the building.
The health authority's chief people and communications officer Andrew Slater said its team of security guards work "constantly" to make staff feel safe.
He said that verbal and physical assaults are fairly commonplace across Te Whatu Ora's network, with 15 reports of physical assault and 14 reports of verbal assault on average per day. This often happens inside hospitals and clinics.
"We'd really like to remind people that our people are people," he said.
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