A man has been charged with breaking into an aged care home and allegedly assaulting an elderly woman on New Year’s Eve on the New South Wales north coast.
Emergency services were called to an aged care home in Coffs Harbour at about 2.30am on Monday after reports a woman aged in her 70s had been sexually assaulted, NSW police said on Friday.
Officers were told an unknown man had allegedly entered the woman’s room before sexually assaulting her and fleeing the scene.
Police will allege the man wore a stocking over his face as a disguise before entering the room through a courtyard and a closed door.
“The woman heard the door open and woke to see the man walking through her room with a stocking over his face,” Det Supt Jayne Doherty told reporters.
She said the elderly woman attempted to scream and struggled before the alleged sexual assault.
“Police will further allege that the woman was agile enough to kick this male in the groin and scratch at his face.”
The woman managed to escape and alert night staff in the building before the man allegedly ran back through the courtyard and fled over fences, police said on Friday.
“The woman was taken to hospital where she was treated for cuts and scratches and she is being supported by the home and her family,” Doherty said.
“She is currently not in hospital but being cared for by family. The woman has asked for privacy at this time.”
The detective said there was no connection between the accused and the alleged victim. She said the man had previous interactions with police.
Doherty said the alleged attack did not appear targeted but rather “opportunistic”.
“An attack on a person in the safety of their home, in their own bed, is horrendous anyway, but to [allegedly] break into a nursing home, you are only going to find vulnerable people living there. It beggars belief that someone would do this.”
The state’s sex crimes squad took over the investigation from local police and on Thursday afternoon arrested a 29-year-old man in Coffs Harbour.
The man was charged with aggravated sexual assault and break and enter with intent.
He did not apply for bail during a brief appearance in the Port Macquarie local court on Friday. The case was adjourned to Monday and transferred to Coffs Harbour.
Doherty said the nursing home hired extra security staff after the incident to give residents a “sense of security”.
“These are people’s homes so they need to be free to come and go, but they need to feel safe as well. It’s a balance between ensuring they’re safe but still allowing them to have their own freedom too.”
In a separate and unrelated incident, late last year a 90-year-old woman died in hospital after an alleged rape at an aged care facility on the NSW Central Coast in November.
Meanwhile, in another unrelated incident, a patient of a south-western Sydney hospital has been charged with assaulting three women, including an 80-year-old whom he allegedly punched in the face.
Police were called to Bankstown hospital on Eldridge Street about 3am on Thursday after being told a 63- and a 58-year-old woman were grabbed by a man before being assaulted.
The man then allegedly confronted and punched an 80-year-old woman before choking her and hitting her head against the wall, causing her to lose consciousness. She was in a critical condition on Thursday.
The man was charged with causing grievous bodily harm to a person with intent, choking a person intending to commit an indictable offence, intentionally choking a person with recklessness and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
He was refused bail to appear at Parramatta local court on Friday.
With Australian Associated Press