Woman, 78, fights off sex attack

This 78-year-old Rotorua woman told the Herald of coming home to find a man in her lounge who then tried to rape her while she fought and screamed. Picture / Alan Gibson

An elderly Rotorua woman has told the Herald she fought back when a man attempted to rape her in her home this week.

The 78-year-old, who cannot be named to protect her identity, has been praised by police for her bravery and said she refused to let the alleged attack make her feel unsafe in her home of 30 years.

"I'm not going to think of my home as something awful," she said yesterday. "My home is my home. Just because he came in here and did what he did doesn't take away from the fact that this is my home and I'm not going to move out of it and say I'm frightened to go back to it."

A 25-year-old man has been charged with assault with attempt to rape the woman and with entering her home with intent to commit a crime.

Police say his motive was purely sexual.

Speaking at her home, the woman said she had returned from her weekly shopping trip into town on Tuesday afternoon when she turned around to find a man standing in her lounge.

She said she knew the man, having allowed him to borrow her telephone a few times before, but he had always knocked on the door.

"[This time] he never said anything. He just came at me. He just grabbed me by my shoulders. I was yelling and screaming."

The great-grandmother of two said the man forced her into her bedroom and ripped off her trousers and underwear.

He also pulled his pants down.

"When I saw him do that, I really got scared," she said. "I got my fists and I was banging on the side of his head. I used both my hands. I just kept pushing and pushing at him."

He left and she went outside, shaking. She called out to a neighbour, who had not heard her screams, to come and sit with her while she called police.

Nursing a sore hip and two bruises yesterday, the woman said she felt lucky that she had escaped without further injuries, but was still upset.

"I can't believe he would do that to someone my age," she said.

She praised her daughter and granddaughter for being "absolute bricks", saying they had helped her talk about the incident.

She also warned others to be alert, saying she had left her door open.

Her granddaughter, who had taken the woman shopping and dropped her at home shortly before the attack, said it was disgraceful and she was thankful someone had been arrested and was in custody.

"It's two or three weeks that he doesn't hurt another old lady," she said.

* A man made no plea and was remanded in custody when he appeared in the Rotorua District Court yesterday. He applied for name suppression and was refused, but the Herald is prevented from publishing his name until an appeal against the judge's decision is heard.