A middle-aged woman was dragged from her bike, beaten and sexually assaulted early on Sunday morning.

The 54-year-old Pembroke woman was riding her bike and was about to make a right turn at the junction of Princess and Ewing Street in Hamilton when she was punched in the left side of her face by her attacker.

The assailant then stopped her bike, pulled her from it and dragged her to a nearby car park where she was repeatedly punched about the face and sexually assaulted.

Following the attack the woman was able to make her way home were she contacted Police.

She was treated at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital before being released.

Police last night refused to release any further details about the attack such as the car park where the incident occurred, whether or not a description was obtained, whether there were any witnesses, or if the victim knew her attacker.

Police spokeswoman Evelyn James Barnett said: "Investigations are underway.'' Chairwoman of the Women's resource Centre, Penny Dill said that when a woman is seriously sexually assaulted, the organisation sends a counsellor to help the victim.

Mrs. Dill said she had not heard about the weekend incident but expected to learn more about the situation today.

But she warned: "It is a good idea for women to be accompanied home, especially if they are on a bike.'' She said that she could not comment any further before learning more of the situation, but said that at the end of last year, there was a noticeable increase in the number of sexual assaults on women.

The attack has renewed calls for the legalisation of mace or pepper spray, although Mrs. Dill said that Police might be opposed to the idea as they feared such devices could be used against Police.

There were 12 sexual or violent attacks on women on the Island between the end of August and mid-November last year.

In November, a woman was attacked outside her home in the early hours of the morning but managed to reach her front door, releasing her dogs who chased the attacker away.

Also in November, a 47-year-old woman was raped and had two front teeth punched out as she walked through St. John's Cemetery in Pembroke.

In August a man broke into a house near Horseshoe Bay and sexually assaulted a woman as she lay sleeping in her bed.

He also beat her about the face with a telephone and threatened to rape her when she tried to phone for help.

A man was subsequently arrested and pleaded guilty to this assault.

A teenage girl was also raped in October as she walked along the Railway Trail near Tribe Road number two in Southampton at 5.30 p.m.

Hunt launched for sex attacker Days after that incident, a 29-year-old woman was sexually assaulted near to the Jehovah's Witness church at Heron Bay in Middle Road, Southampton, in the early hours of the morning.

A man is in custody awaiting a trial for this matter.

Crime statistics released in November showed that although overall crime was down, sexual assault and rape crimes for the first nine months of the year were up 900 per cent.

Police have had difficulty identifying and bringing charges against alleged rapists as the law currently prevents investigators from collecting DNA samples.

And some women claim to be intimidated by the Police identification procedure whereby victims do not view a line up through a two-way mirror, but instead identify their alleged attackers face-to-face.