Home invasion haunts woman
Her bruises may be fading but visions of her attacker are still fresh two weeks after she was attacked in a relative’s Hamilton home. The woman, who does not want to be identified, is still having trouble sleeping and suffers nightmares from when she was twice brutally punched in the face, leaving her with a slightly fractured eye socket, on the afternoon of Tuesday, February 28.
The man — described as a darkskinned Maori in his 20s with a distinctive cross tattoo on his neck — is still on the run.
It was about 2.45pm and visitors had just left the Dinsdale home. Feeling weary, the woman decided to nap on the couch. Then she felt the presence of somebody in the lounge.
“I was semiconscious, just dozing, and I just sensed he was there and I opened my eyes and he was standing there.”
Shocked, the former security guard said, “What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing?” and tried to stand up.
But within seconds the intruder had punched her in the face.
“I started to get up off the couch. My biggest fear was that I was going to get raped . . . I knew I had some dressmaking scissors on the floor next to me and I thought ‘if he undoes his trousers I am using them’. I will fight. But he never gave me the chance.
“And just ‘boof’ into one eye and I went to lift my arm to stop him hitting me again and he just grabbed my arm. [Bruises are] almost faded now but he had his fingerprints all the way up my arm where he’d held on to me so tight.”
Then the blood started to drip down from her eyebrow, which had split with the force of the punch.
“And then the second punch came, it was ‘ bang, bang’.”
The woman, who has been in security most of her working life, hoped the tattoo would help track him down. “The tattoo was just so distinctive.”
Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder several years ago, she said the attack had left her feeling even more stressed and worried that the assailant might return.
“It’s two weeks and I’m still having nightmares and I’m still getting up every hour making sure I’ve locked all the doors.”
Detective Maree Stevenson, of Waikato police, said the offender was still on the run, however police hoped publicity about his tattoo would help to identify him.