An elderly west Auckland woman had just returned to her house after recovering from a home invasion when she was attacked a second time.
The 88-year-old was viciously assaulted about 10pm on Tuesday at her property in Milan Dr in the suburb of Glen Eden. She suffered head and neck injuries and last night was in Auckland City Hospital.
Her daughter, who asked not to be named, told the New Zealand Herald it was the second time her mother had ended up in hospital in recent weeks - she was attacked in a home invasion about two weeks ago.
"My mother's been living with me since the first attack. I got a security company to put bolts on the doors and locks on the windows. She was only home for six hours and she was attacked again. That's not right."
The daughter said last night that she had spent 15 hours at the hospital with her mother, who was recovering well.
"[Mum is] fiercely independent, and there must be a lot of fiercely independent people out there. She's been completely beaten up. She's still in hospital, but she'll be fine - she's a fighter. We're all fighters. We have a strength to keep going."
She did not want to speak about her mother's attacker or his motives, but acknowledged it was a tough thing for the family to see their mother and grandmother go through.
The family also wanted to push a simple message to others, particularly older people: be aware.
"She's an amazing, gentle person, who has helped everybody else all her life and doesn't deserve, in her late 80s, to be assaulted and treated like this. It's unfair. It's terrible what's happened, but she is still alive.
"People really need to be aware of their own security and what is required to keep them secure in their houses and maybe talk to people in the neighbourhood and to each other about being secure."
Because of the victim's injuries, police have yet to speak to her in detail about what happened, but expected to do so today.
They carried out a scene examination at her house yesterday, but did not yet have a description of the offender.
A neighbour said that during the first attack, a man had entered the woman's house through a sliding door about 4pm. She saw him and said: "Excuse me, can I help you?" The man replied: "Your husband owes me."
The woman is a widow and her husband died several years ago. The attacker tried to grab her but the "feisty" pensioner tried to push him back. He then put his hands around her throat, the neighbour said.
The woman then pretended to call out to her husband, saying: "John, John", telling her attacker he was sleeping.
The attacker let her go and she activated an alarm. The neighbour said this angered the attacker, who told her, "I'm coming back for you," before leaving.
The neighbour said the second attack had been much worse, leaving the woman with a damaged nose and deep bruising around her neck and chest. It is understood she managed to escape the attack and hid in her garden before venturing back inside to set off her alarm.
Grey Power president Terry King called the attack "deplorable", and the fact it was two weeks before Christmas made it even more horrendous.
"The whole country will be shocked and angry at this senseless attack on an innocent older person."
Mr King said Grey Power represented the welfare and well-being of older people and would not tolerate this kind of crime.
"It is official Grey Power policy to advocate for the introduction of legislation of mandatory minimum custodial sentences for persons convicted of home invasion crimes," he said.
