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23/04/2002
Pensioner robbed and locked up in her home
A woman in her 70s has been robbed and assaulted in her home in east Belfast.
A man called at her door asking the elderly woman could he retrieve his ball from her garden around 10pm. When she replied she would get it for him, he pushed past her placing his hand over her mouth, forcing her into the living room and pushing her into a chair.
Another man entered the house and stole some money and documents from her handbag and they then locked the woman in her kitchen.
A neighbour raised the alarm after he heard the woman’s cries for help.
The woman, who is just out of hospital and is in poor health, suffered severe bruising to her forearms and is said to be very badly shaken, according to a police spokesperson.
The two men are thought to be from the area and police are appealing for information.
The attack is the latest in a spate of vicious assaults on this vulnerable section of the community.
Two weeks ago four elderly women were robbed and assaulted in their homes. Speaking after those attacks Ulster Unionist assembly member for North Antrim James Leslie called for mandatory jail sentences to be imposed on people convicted of attacking the elderly.
“The elderly need to be protected and this is one way in which society can send out a strong signal that such behaviour will not be tolerated,” he said.
“I believe we should be looking at urgent ways of trying to give special protection to the most vulnerable members of society.
“If these evil people are not deterred from putting senior citizens through such terrifying ordeals then it would be reprehensible.”
(AMcE)
A man called at her door asking the elderly woman could he retrieve his ball from her garden around 10pm. When she replied she would get it for him, he pushed past her placing his hand over her mouth, forcing her into the living room and pushing her into a chair.
Another man entered the house and stole some money and documents from her handbag and they then locked the woman in her kitchen.
A neighbour raised the alarm after he heard the woman’s cries for help.
The woman, who is just out of hospital and is in poor health, suffered severe bruising to her forearms and is said to be very badly shaken, according to a police spokesperson.
The two men are thought to be from the area and police are appealing for information.
The attack is the latest in a spate of vicious assaults on this vulnerable section of the community.
Two weeks ago four elderly women were robbed and assaulted in their homes. Speaking after those attacks Ulster Unionist assembly member for North Antrim James Leslie called for mandatory jail sentences to be imposed on people convicted of attacking the elderly.
“The elderly need to be protected and this is one way in which society can send out a strong signal that such behaviour will not be tolerated,” he said.
“I believe we should be looking at urgent ways of trying to give special protection to the most vulnerable members of society.
“If these evil people are not deterred from putting senior citizens through such terrifying ordeals then it would be reprehensible.”
(AMcE)
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