A man allegedly hit a woman in the head with a pine cone or rock after kissing her without permission during a Toast to the Coast event.
Police this week released an image of a man they wanted to interview over the incident at Bellarine’s Terindah Estate winery on 4 November.
Police alleged that the unknown man assaulted the woman after she told him to stop kissing her.
He first approached her after she walked away from the event area at the winery to answer a phone call, about 2.45pm, police said.
She had walked about 200 metres into a vineyard to “escape the noise” when the man allegedly struck.
“(The) victim was followed by an unknown male who approached her and began asking her questions while she was on the phone,” police alleged.
“(The) male then kissed her on lips without warning or permission. The complainant pushed him away and said, ’No, stop’.
“The male has then picked up a pine cone or rock and struck the complainant on the forehead with it before running off back towards the main event area. The male was not sighted again by the victim.”
Police described the suspect as Caucasian, in his late twenties or early thirties, with brown hair, clean shaven, a thin build and wearing a white shirt and black slacks.
Police asked anyone with information about the alleged assault to phone Detective Senior Constable Glenn Benstead at Geelong Sexual Offenders and Child Abuse Team (SOCIT) on 5246 8100 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
The two-day Toast to the Coast is billed as the Geelong region’s “pre-eminent annual food, wine and music festival”.
