Attack on great-gran stuns family
Police appeal for public’s help to find pair who left 91-year-old out cold in her own home after brazen robbery
Afamily was left in tears after a 91-year-old greatgrandmother was attacked in her home. Eileen Harwood suffered a head injury when two men assaulted her in a home invasion at her Mt Wellington property.
Harwood’s grandson, Kevin Tutt, 49, said yesterday the family wouldn’t be able to relax until the offenders were caught.
“I hope these buggers get caught and I hope they get made an example of and I hope the example ripples off to all these other sh** heads who are doing the same sort of thing.
“Jail is not good enough anymore. I think going back to public humiliation, stocks, anything to make an example of this behaviour.”
He said the family were considering installing security cameras.
Harwood had returned to her home in the Mountain Rd area about 3.30pm on Monday after a shopping trip with her daughter, Sue Tutt, 69, when she was attacked.
The pair were carrying their groceries into their neighbouring homes when two men appeared at Harwood’s property. One of the men told Sue Tutt the pair were lost and asked for directions.
Tutt said they slowly advanced up the steps to the doorway. “I thought ‘ this isn’t good’.” When they pushed past Tutt, Harwood walked out and asked the men, “What the hell are you doing?”
That was when her mum was assaulted, Tutt said.
“He shoved her. She fell on her back. She was out, unconscious. Then they just took hold of her shopping bag and took off. When I saw her go down on the ground she didn’t even put her arms out to help herself ... she didn’t move. “I couldn’t stop shaking.” Harwood knocked the back of her head on the ground. Her daughter ran to her aid as the offenders grabbed Harwood’s bag.
Both then fled.
Harwood’s shopping bag contained sweets, a mirror, comb, eftpos card and around $50 cash.
Tutt called 111 and tried to wake her mum but she was unresponsive.
Harwood was taken to hospital and released yesterday morning. When the Herald visited the family’s home she was fast asleep.
Tutt said her mum was usually “feisty and independent” and lived a full life with three children, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. But yesterday she was sore and exhausted.
Tutt expected that the emotional trauma would begin to hit now Harwood is back home.
But it’s how bad the assault could have been that had Tutt worried.
“They’re just lowlifes. They’re just cowardly.
“For $50 why would you go and men hurt an old lady?” Police are vowing to do everything they can to find the offenders behind the “deplorable attack on a vulnerable person”, Detective Senior Sergeant Glenn Baldwin said. Police “flooded the
HFor a video of Kevin Tutt, go to nzherald.co.nz area”, but the pair were not found.
“Our elderly have the right to feel safe in their own homes without the fear of something like this happening,” he said.
“Fortunately this lady is not seriously injured, but . . . the long-term effects for a victim in a crime like this are ongoing and traumatic.”
Baldwin called on the offenders to hand themselves in.
“To the people who committed the crime: ‘Come to us before we come to you. Do the right thing’.”
Asked whether the attack was likely planned, Baldwin said police would be exploring “a number of options and possibilities”.
CCTV footage will also be reviewed as part of their inquiries.
“To anyone out there who even suspects that they might know who these people are, do the right thing. Tell us what you know,” Baldwin said.
Police described the offenders as fair-skinned Maori or Pacific Islanders, one aged between 25 and 30 and about 1.8m tall, the other in his late teens and wearing a tancoloured hooded sweatshirt.
The two men are believed to have been driving a metallic blue sedan, possibly lowered and of a similar shape to a Nissan Skyline, with a noisy exhaust.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Auckland police on (09) 302 6557 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.