"I never saw him. It was just a hand and I vaguely remember someone legging it down the street and he left me on the ground, you see."
She was left shocked.
"I couldn't realise it because I thought as I said to the detective, why would someone want to sort of attack, evidently, an older person who wasn't carrying round a big bank balance around with them, if they had one."
After being checked over by her local GP, she was referred to the emergency clinic who attended to her injuries - her middle finger which was sliced open, requiring nine stitches, and four more stitches to the webbing between her thumb and forefinger.
She's due to have them out on Tuesday but has endured daily trips to the local medical centre since.
ACC had approved subsidised treatment but it's still left her out of pocket. She's also had to replace all her cards and the locks to her unit as she had a spare key in her stolen handbag.
She has lived in Hamilton East for 14 years, after emigrating to New Zealand from York, England with her husband in 1964.
Despite the frightening attack, it hadn't put her off living in the area - or slowed her down.
"I like the unit as I've made it my own, it's so convenient to get the buses, to town, the library, my meetings, to 60 plus ..."
Now she just hoped that other older members of the community would learn something from her misfortune.
"Be more alert of what's going on or people hovering around you. Normally you get off the bus and go wherever you're going and you don't give it a second thought, you think about making a cup of tea or putting your shopping away or something like that. And as I say I had been on this outing which was very nice so it was sort of a big, what shall I say, an anti-climax."
As for how she felt about the incident - she was more frustrated by her hand injuries.
"I'm upset because I feel I'm not used to being semi-incapacitated and everybody feeling sorry for me than I am for myself. Honestly, because it's done now. Why worry? Somebody else is going to do all the worrying for me now, sort of.
"Age concern people they were very concerned because I have been a member there for donkey's years, well it seems like it."
Age Concern Hamilton chief executive Gail Gilbert was disgusted that a young man would rob a defenceless elderly lady of her handbag.
"It's appalling people who target such vulnerable, older people. I don't know what they must be thinking really, but it's a deliberate attack on someone who is pretty well defenceless. [Victim] is a plucky woman, very plucky, and she walks everywhere, uses public transport, lives independently, comes to Age Concern, is very engaged with her community, she volunteers and she just doesn't need this type of thing happen to her."
Detective Senior Sergeant Ross Patterson of the Hamilton CIB was also unimpressed by the attack on a vulnerable member of the community.
Police are still hunting the man responsible.
Anyone with information is urged to phone police on 07 8586200.