KEY POINTS:
Police are hunting a man who beat an 80-year-old Asian woman in her south Auckland home.
The woman is in Middlemore Hospital with serious internal injuries and fractured chest and rib bones following the attack about 5.30pm on Wednesday.
The attack was in Saralee Place, Manurewa East, about 1km from the liquor store where Navtej Singh was killed on Saturday night.
Detective Inspector Mark Gutry said little was known about the attacker, other than that he was a Maori man.
"This is an assault on an 80-year-old woman who couldn't fight back and so we'd really like to get hold of this person before he hurts anybody else."
Mr Gutry said police had briefly spoken with the woman but were having difficulties communicating, due to her condition and language barriers.
"The first she was aware was when a hand was placed over her mouth.
"She was then assaulted and there was an intent to put her in a closet but further than that we're still going through speaking with the victim when we can."
Mr Gutry said the assault at this stage appeared to be a one-off and not connected to other recent violent attacks in the Manurewa area.
- NZPA
