Attempted rapist filmed leering at woman, escaping down tree

The terrifying moments when a man tried to rape a woman as she entered her New York apartment building have been caught on camera.

Surveillance footage shows the man, who is wearing a black hoodie, follow the 20-year-old woman into the building in Stuyvesant Town at 4am Friday local time, the New York Daily News reports.

The man can be seen getting into a lift with the woman where he leers at her from behind.

The man then takes his opportunity to pounce on the woman, who manages to scream and fight him off.

The suspect ran from the lift when it reached the next floor.

The video shows the man running in the hall of the building and then escaping by climbing down a tree onto the footpath below.

Police are still trying to hunt down the man, who remains at large.