A woman was attacked with a knife when she got out of her car in a lay-by after feeling sick.
The woman, from Newhaven, was driving to visit a relative on the A259 near her home when she began to feel nauseous and pulled off the road opposite Tidemills at 11.20pm on Saturday.
She stopped for some air but as soon as she got out of the car, she was accosted by the man.
He stabbed her but she managed to escape with minor cuts.
Police said witnesses parked in a car at the other end of the lay-by had given them information but they were appealing for more witnesses to come forward.
Detective Inspector Tim Guyton, of Eastbourne CID, said: "It was so dark around there and there are no street lights, so all she could see was a dark figure, a black silhouette.
"Her actual physical injuries from the knife were superficial but it is the mental trauma she was subjected to, by what we are presuming was a man, when she stopped in the lay-by."
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