Police say man who beat senior spent previous night in her home

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. — Police believe a man who viciously attacked a 75-year-old woman in her southern Alberta home had been in the house for 18 hours without her knowing it.

City police say officers were sent to the home in Lethbridge on Wednesday night after neighbours reported screaming and saw a woman struggling with a man in her garage.

Responders found the badly beaten senior, who was taken to hospital with head and facial injuries that included several broken bones in her nose.

The woman has been released from hospital into the care of her family.

Adam Hall Hobkirk-Onate, who is 21 and of no fixed address, faces several charges, including assault causing bodily harm and robbery.

He is in custody and is to appear in Lethbridge court on Monday.

Investigators say a man broke into the woman’s home early on Tuesday, spent the night in a basement bedroom and remained in the house the next day.

They say the woman was confronted by a masked man on Wednesday evening after she heard a noise and went to check it out.

Police say the intruder repeatedly punched her in the face and knocked her to the ground before dragging her to the garage, where he hit her multiple times in the head with a bicycle before fleeing in her vehicle.

A man was arrested later that night during a traffic stop.