Another Old Person Injured In A Home Invasion

Another elderly person has been beaten-up in a home invasion in New Zealand, this time in The Avenues, Tauranga, a town that is popular with retired people.

Police were called to the man’s home by a concerned relative. He is thought to be in his 80s, and has serious head injuries. He was taken to hospital today where he is now said to be in a critical condition. We wish him well and hope he makes a full recovery.

Two weeks ago a 93 year old grandmother, Gwendoline Samson, was attacked in her home in Papakura, but fortunately she managed to successfully fight off her assailant without suffering any major injuries but it was the second time she’d suffered such an assault.

Police have yet to catch the thugs who smashed the face of another Tauranga grandmother. 65 Year old Mary Loader was severely injured when a half full beer bottle was thrown at her from a passing car one morning. She was out picking fruit at the time and the attack was completely unprovoked. See Tauranga grandmother in coma after bottle attack.

Update:
Later news reports are that the injured man has died and a man has been arrested in connection with his death. A homicide investigation is currently underway, read more here. Our deepest condolences go out to the victim's wife and family.

We’ve said before that one may judge the character of a society by how it treats the weak, the vulnerable, the most easily forgotten. Abuse of the young and the old is widespread in NZ and may not be such a great place for older people to retire in. Other recent attacks on elderly people include:

• A Racist attack on elderly man in Hastings

• Gaynor Alice White, 62, battered to death with a hammer by an intruder in her home in Parkland, Christchurch

• A 72 year old man left shaken and bruised after being robbed at gunpoint at his home in Beerescourt Rd Road, Hamilton

• An 82 year old woman kidnapped and robbed whilst shopping on W.Tamaki Road, Auckland

• Grandmother Barabara Julian, battered to death by an intruder in her Kaitaia home

• Lois Dear, 66, murdered and sexually assulted in her classroom at Tokoroa primary school

• An elderly woman was physically and sexually assulted in her Eltham home

• Retired teacher John Rowe, murdered by two teenage girls in his Opotiki home

• An 83 year old woman who was assaulted and her home set fire to in Howick

• An elderly couple who were hopsitalized after a home invasion in New Plymouth

• An elderly man kicked to the ground and assaulted by a truck driver in Manukau

• An 85 year old man badly beaten during a home invasion at his Bethesda Village retirement home in Wiri.

• 86 year old Patricia Burrows was left with a fractured pelvis, cuts and bruises after she was mugged in a Christchurch shopping mall

• Yin Ping Yang, 80, died following a savage attack during a home invasion in Manurewa East that lasted for several hours.

• A 99 year old woman who was sexually assaulted in her Palmerston North home and died in hospital

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Tauranga Grandmother Seriously Injured In Bottle Attack

MaryMary Loader, the 65 year old granny who was seriously injured in a beer bottle attack whilst out fruit picking on Sunday morning, is still gravely ill after a three hour operation on Sunday to repair her damaged face.

Police have released sickening photographs of her injuries which included massive bruising, a shattered cheekbone and a broken nose. They’re very shocking and out of respect to Mrs Loader and her family we won’t be showing them here.

Our thoughts and best wishes go out to her.

This unprovoked and senseless attack on a defenseless woman is a sad indictment of a society that is deteriorating more and more every day. A society where alcohol abuse is out of control and people have no sense of consequence or responsibility for their actions,  where a grandmother can be almost killed by a half full beer bottle at 8.30 in the morning.

We hope the police catch those responsible but doubt that the justice system will deal with them appropriately, any sentence they’re given is unlikely to be punitive or act as a deterrent to others.
Anyone wishing to convey their respects to Mrs Loader and her family can send a get well card to her at Tauranga hospital or leave a message on the Trademe community board

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Community/MessageBoard/Messages.aspx?id=250286

We’ve said before that one may judge the character of a society by how it treats the weak, the vulnerable, the most easily forgotten. Abuse of the young and the old is widespread in NZ, recent attacks on elderly people include:

• Gaynor Alice White, 62, battered to death with a hammer by an intruder in her home in Parkland, Christchurch

• A 72 year old man left shaken and bruised after being robbed at gunpoint at his home in Beerescourt Rd Road, Hamilton

• An 82 year old woman kidnapped and robbed whilst shopping on W.Tamaki Road, Auckland

• Grandmother Barabara Julian, battered to death by an intruder in her Kaitaia home

• Lois Dear, 66, murdered and sexually assulted in her classroom at Tokoroa primary school

• An elderly woman was physically and sexually assulted in her Eltham home

• Retired teacher John Rowe, murdered by two teenage girls in his Opotiki home

• An 83 year old woman who was assaulted and her home set fire to in Howick

• An elderly couple who were hopsitalized after a home invasion in New Plymouth

• An elderly man kicked to the ground and assaulted by a truck driver in Manukau

• An 85 year old man badly beaten during a home invasion at his Bethesda Village retirement home in Wiri.

• 86 year old Patricia Burrows was left with a fractured pelvis, cuts and bruises after she was mugged in a Christchurch shopping mall

• Yin Ping Yang, 80, died following a savage attack during a home invasion in Manurewa East that lasted for several hours.

• A 99 year old woman who was sexually assaulted in her Palmerston North home and died in hospital

See also:

“NZ a more dangerous, more violent place“ -  “Violence and drug-related offences are largely responsible for increased crime rates, according to 2009 crime statistics released by police today”

Booze fuels a massive leap in crime and family violence : “A massive rise in family violence and more drunken teenage girls fighting in the street are features of shocking crime statistics for Hamilton and Waikato released today.”

Family stunned alleged drunk driver in crash bailed twice :  justice system has given family a “kick in the guts”

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Another Old Person Murdered in Own Home - Updated

It looks as if the elderly Christchurch woman who was found murdered in her own home yesterday may have died during a robbery that went wrong. Her death has been described as "horrific"

Police are saying that various items went missing from the woman's Huntsbury home, including her car, large screen television and computer, they later found the car a few kms away, suggesting that this may have been a local crime. They are not releasing details of how she died until the results of the post mortem are known but they did indicate that her body had probably been in the house for a couple of days.

Update 22 February
The deceased woman was later named as Gaynor Alice White, 62, a widow who had lost her husband to cancer 5 years ago and who had recently become a grandmother. Shaun Skilling, an unemployed 22-year-old from Parklands, Christchurch  has appeared on 4 charges in the Christchurch District Court and more are expected to follow. Police have said that a weapon had been used to kill Mrs White but aren't saying what it was.

This appalling attack on a defenseless woman is shocking. There have been so many similar crimes recently that we wonder if old people are now seen as easy targets in New Zealand. We think it would be a good idea if the government funded payments to old people so that they can install better security measures in their homes.

We've said before that one may judge the character of a society by how it treats the weak, the vulnerable, the most easily forgotten. Abuse of the young and the old is widespread in NZ, recent attacks on elderly people include:

• A 72 year old man left shaken and bruised after being robbed at gunpoint at his home in Beerescourt Rd Road, Hamilton

• An 82 year old woman kidnapped and robbed whilst shopping on W.Tamaki Road, Auckland
  
  
• Grandmother Barabara Julian, battered to death by an intruder in her Kaitaia home 

• Lois Dear, 66, murdered and sexually assulted in her classroom at Tokoroa primary school

• An elderly woman was physically and sexually assulted in her Eltham home
  

• Retired teacher John Rowe, murdered by two teenage girls in his Opotiki home
  

• An 83 year old woman who was assaulted and her home set fire to in Howick

• An elderly couple who were hopsitalized after a home invasion in New Plymouth

• An elderly man kicked to the ground and assaulted by a truck driver in Manukau

• An 85 year old man badly beaten during a home invasion at his Bethesda Village retirement home in Wiri.

• 86 year old Patricia Burrows was left with a fractured pelvis, cuts and bruises after she was mugged in a Christchurch shopping mall

• Yin Ping Yang, 80, died following a savage attack during a home invasion in Manurewa East that lasted for several hours.
  

• A 99 year old woman who was sexually assaulted in her Palmerston North home and died in hospital
  

Today's posts - click here

Crime In Palmerston North

The good people of Palmerston North seem to be having a hard time of it at the hands of their criminal element, just weeks ago it was revealed that the town suffers at least one sex assault every week.

Palmerston North is a town which has endured various shootings , a stoush  at a school in Feilding, a hammer attack on teenager Blake Coleman, knife crimes and public humiliation when it was discovered that its Wikipedia page had been 'edited' to remove negative references to gang violence and crime.

We decided to look at the town's current listing on Wikipedia and found this under the crime and policing heading - despite its appalling sex assault record and women warned to be vigilant whilst walking home alone over the Christmas period (when it was likely the attack rate would increase) so much for "satisfaction with safety in public places at night":

"Palmerston North is the main centre of the New Zealand Police's Central District.^[15] Palmerston North has improved from 36th to 7th in a list of the best places for low crime figures (2008). Overall, crime dropped by 10% in the past year (2008). This is a result of organisations working together on prevention and enforcement strategies. Violent crime has increased by 5% in the past year but this is compared with an 11% rise nationally. Satisfaction with safety in public places at night has remained at its 2007 level.^[16]"

Now we have the sad news that a 63 year old man has been beaten and robbed in his own home by 'several men' (some may call that a gang, but not in Palmerston North) He was injured in the attack, which took place in the early hours of this morning, and has been taken to hospital with light to moderate injuries. The police haven't said what weapons, if any, were used. Thank goodness he wasn't more seriously injured but he must still be very shaken after his ordeal.

The injured man was at an address in Waldegrave St,  which is about 2.5 km from Heretaunga Street where a shooting took place in September and 2.1 km from  another shooting on Grey Street in June


Our thoughts are with the injured man and we wish him a speedy, full recovery. We hope the thugs are caught soon.

See also: "Police kept busy with young teens":  About eight teenage boys attacked two men and two women in their early 20s, in Linton St near The Brewer's Apprentice, about 1.30am on Sunday 14 Feb 2010.

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Another Elderly Person Attacked In Their Own Home

Another elderly person has been viciously assaulted in their own home. The Herald has published:

"Police are hunting for a young woman after an elderly Auckland man was attacked with a knife in a home invasion in the early hours of last Friday morning.The 69-year-old victim suffered cuts to his upper body and hand in his Orakei home. Police would like to speak to Ana Paraha, who is a relative of the victim. She is a 21-year-old Maori woman, 165cm tall and of thin build."

You can fairly judge the character of society by how it treats the weak, the vulnerable, the most easily forgotten. Abuse of the young and the old is widespread in NZ, recent attacks on elderly people include:

• A 72 year old man left shaken and bruised after being robbed at gunpoint at his home in Beerescourt Rd Road, Hamilton

• An 82 year old woman kidnapped and robbed whilst shopping on W.Tamaki Road, Auckland
  

• Grandmother Barabara Julian, battered to death by an intruder in her Kaitaia home 

• Lois Dear, 66, murdered and sexually assulted in her classroom at Tokoroa primary school

• An elderly woman was physically and sexually assulted in her Eltham home
  

• Retired teacher John Rowe, murdered by two teenage girls in his Opotiki home
  

• An 83 year old woman who was assaulted and her home set fire to in Howick

• An elderly couple who were hopsitalized after a home invasion in New Plymouth

• An elderly man kicked to the ground and assaulted by a truck driver in Manukau

• An 85 year old man badly beaten during a home invasion at his Bethesda Village retirement home in Wiri.

• 86 year old Patricia Burrows was left with a fractured pelvis, cuts and bruises after she was mugged in a Christchurch shopping mall

• Yin Ping Yang, 80, died following a savage attack during a home invasion in Manurewa East that lasted for several hours.
  

• A 99 year old woman who was sexually assaulted in her Palmerston North home and died in hospital
  

 Today's posts - click here