Northland woman admits robbing 92yo in her home near Kawakawa

Bella Rina Rudolph during a court appearance by audio-visual link in January 2019. Photo / NZME

A woman accused of robbing a 92-year-old woman in her home near Kawakawa more than two years ago has pleaded guilty on the day her trial was due to start.

Bella Rina Rudolph, 26, was to have gone on trial in the Kaikohe District Court on Monday charged with aggravated robbery.

However, the trial was called off before the jury had even taken their seats after her change of plea.

She is due to be sentenced on July 9.

Rudolph has spent much of the time since her arrest in custody awaiting trial, which was delayed by, among other things, the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rudolph's co-offender, Carrisa Angelique Davis, was jailed last year for five years and nine months after pleading guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, aggravated robbery, and two charges of dishonestly taking and using a document.

Carrisa Angelique Davis during sentencing in the Whangārei District Council in June last year. Photo / NZME

During Davis' sentencing in the Whangārei District Court it was revealed the pair had knocked at a door on Whangae Rd on January 9, 2019, and told the home's 92-year-old occupant they had run out of petrol.

The pair then started searching the house and Davis struck the woman on the head with an ornamental elephant when she tried to call police.

Stolen items included jewellery and the woman's wallet and bank cards.

Davis, who was aged 40 at the time, later used the cards to take $700 from the victim's bank account at ATMs in Kerikeri and Paihia.

The 92-year-old spent a night in Bay of Islands Hospital and required four stitches.

Among the stolen items was a treasured calling card her late husband had given her when they first met at a dance 75 years earlier.

Police recovered the stolen property, including the calling card.

The court was told Davis and Rudolph had been drinking and playing pokies in Kawakawa when they decided to burgle properties in the area to get more money.