A woman hit over the head with a hammer fled into a Te Puke florist for protection from her attacker yesterday afternoon.

'We were a bit startled at first,” says florist Murray Howell. 'We could see she had this great big lump on her head and blood coming from it, and just screaming; ‘Help me, help me'.

'So Lenora took her into the bathroom and lay her down in there and put towels on her head and stuff, and I went next door because luckily we have got doctors at Nga Kakano Foundation.

'The doctor attended her, so he was good to have until the medic got here.

'We really don't know the full story but she had been bashed, just scared for her life I think. She had obviously jumped out of a car to get away and she was saying, ‘help me, help me. He's going to kill me', and to hide her. So we just protected her basically.”

The 32-year-old Te Puke woman was adamant her attacker was going to come after her so they locked the toilet door, because it took a little while for police and ambulance to arrive.

'She was very scared,” says Murray. 'We thought she was going in and out of consciousness from the big bash on the head, from the so called hammer, I think. So it was not a nice looking sight when she came in through the door.”

Police knew the woman's attacker, and had been trying to find him before the attack, says Murray.

A police spokesperson says emergency services were called at 2.11pm yesterday with a report of an injured woman entering a florist on Jellicoe St, Te Puke.

'The woman had a serious head injury. Police arrested a man with an outstanding warrant a short time later.

'Enquiries are continuing and charges are yet to be determined.”

The 32 year old woman was reported to be in a stable condition in Tauranga Hospital.