Bashing to be reconstructed on TV

A television reconstruction of the bashing of an elderly South Auckland man in his retirement home will screen this week.

Police hope the reconstruction - screening on Police Ten 7 on TV2 on Thursday - will generate new information in the hunt for a man suspected of beating 85-year-old Louis Watts.

Mr Watts was knocked unconscious for 1 hours during the attack in his unit in the Bethesda Village retirement centre in Wiri last Wednesday night.

Detective Senior Sergeant Karyn Malthus said a suspicious man was seen jogging out the village's rear gates about 7pm before stopping to talk to another person on the corner of Inverill and Islay Sts. The man was described as mid to late 20s with dark trousers and a dark top.

Police would like to speak to anyone who could identify him or the person he was talking to.

"It's that kind of thing which we can't ignore. If we heard from him and he just used it [the village] as a shortcut, we could eliminate him from our inquiries," Ms Malthus said.

She added that police had not had any calls from the public about the suspicious man, although that was not surprising considering it was the Easter weekend.

"We have found there are people who are using that route as a shortcut. But to do so, they have to jump over the fence at the front of the retirement village because the gates are locked and jump over the back. So it's not a thoroughfare, and only select individuals will cross barriers like that."

Meanwhile, Mr Watts is making a steady recovery.

"Every day is an improvement, but he's still suffering a great deal of discomfort," said Ms Malthus.

- NZPA