Police have released surveillance camera footage of a suspect in a violent sexual assault in a parkette in the city’s downtown core earlier this week.

Police say that a female victim was in McGill Parkette near Gerrard and Yonge streets at around 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday when a man approached her and struck her on the head with a piece of concrete.

Police say that the man then produced a knife and sexually assaulted the woman. He later fled the scene after being confronted by a passerby.

The victim sustained unspecified injuries as a result of the attack and was taken to hospital by paramedics, police say.

The five second video clip released on Thursday shows the suspect approaching a ramp to an underground parking lot and then turning and walking in the other direction.

Police say the suspect is believed to be about six-feet tall, in his mid to late 20s with a thin build and short black hair. He was last seen wearing a red short-sleeved shirt, black track pants with white vertical stripes and black and white sneakers. He was also carrying a black backpack.