Teen thugs won't keep me indoors, says Elsie, 95

Elsie Jones says she will walk home past the police station. Picture / Andrew Labett

Standing under 1.52m and weighing less than 50kg, 95-year-old Elsie Jones could not offer much resistance to the two teenagers who mugged her on a Hastings street for a loaf of bread and $2.

The eldest resident of the Swansea Village retirement village had just visited the nearby Flaxmere Shopping Centre at 12.50pm on Sunday and was walking home through trees behind the centre when the teens approached.

"The two larrikins were waiting by the fence for me," Mrs Jones said.

"They grabbed me and I fell to the ground."

Mrs Jones was yesterday sporting a badly banged-up elbow and several cuts and grazes from where she hit the road near the pedestrian crossing on Swansea Rd.

"I got a bit of a shock," she said.

"That is the last time I will be taking short cuts.

"From now on I will walk around by the police station."

Yesterday Mrs Jones was fielding calls from worried relatives and friends.

Although shaken, she said she was not going to be frightened into staying indoors.

She planned to be out walking yesterday - she needed to replace the loaf of bread that was stolen.

Constable Andrew Clinton of Hastings said the two teenagers had grabbed the shopping bag Mrs Jones was carrying.

It contained a loaf of bread and the pensioner's purse, which had about $2 in it.

"The youths ran down a service lane behind the Flaxmere shopping centre and were last seen running towards a park," Mr Clinton said.

The offenders were described as two male Maori in their early to mid teens.

They were wearing track pants and a T-shirts, and may have been wearing baseball caps.

"Police are disgusted by this cowardly attack on an elderly and frail member of the community," Mr Clinton said.

Mrs Jones had to be helped up by members of the public and was then taken to hospital to be treated, he said.

Hastings District Council Flaxmere councillor Keriana Poulain said the community was extremely upset.

"It's a violation of an elderly person and it's an indictment that they can't just go to the shops," she said.

Mrs Poulain said something had to be done about the violent behaviour of youth in the region, but she was not sure what.

- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY