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A 79-year-old Auckland woman has a dislocated shoulder, a broken hand and may need skin grafts after being attacked for her handbag yesterday.
She was set upon by one of a group of three men about 2pm as she walked the kilometre home from a routine visit to her doctor on Great South Rd in Papatoetoe.
The woman was recovering in Middlemore Hospital last night.
Her son, who did not want to be named, told the Herald he was disgusted by the cowardly attack on a vulnerable woman.
His mother had her arm ripped from its socket as the man grabbed her bag and she was dragged across the footpath during the attack, he said.
"Think about a third of the skin off between your forearm and your wrist. Just imagine what that would feel like. And take the skin off five of your fingers on your right hand ... and a broken bone on the edge of your right hand.
"That's what we're looking at. You can't even use either arm.
"How are you going to live? You can't even have a cup of tea.
"It's pretty horrific."
The victim's son said a member of the public who stopped to help took his mother to a nearby medical centre.
Counties Manukau police district field crime manager Detective Inspector Jim Gallagher said handbag snatchings were common in affluent areas.
They were "high risk" crimes because elderly people could die from injuries received in attacks.
Such attacks were predatory and were committed by offenders "with no concern for the effects of their crime other than the potential benefit for them of a few dollars", he said.
Mr Gallagher urged people to be aware of their surroundings and to walk with other people when possible.
Counties Manukau police have completed several operations targeting handbag snatchers, the most recent ending on May 10.
Six people were arrested during Operation Snatch, with one person still outstanding, for allegedly preying on shoppers as they returned to their cars in the Botany Downs area.
