| 16 November 2009 |
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Pensioner Attacks Slammed |
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.jpg) An elderly woman has been punched and knocked to the ground in east Belfast.
She was attacked by a would-be thief as she was walking along North Road at about 10pm on Sunday.
A man came up behind her and targeted the woman - who is in her 70s - and then tried to steal her handbag but she resisted.
He ran off when a passing motorist stopped to help.
Although the woman hurt her arm, she is not seriously injured and both the police and local politicians have appealed for witnesses to come forward in this second such attempt at robbery over the weekend in the area,
East Belfast MLA Dawn Purvis said: "People responsible for mugging elderly in east Belfast should turn themselves in to the police - shameful," she commented.
East Belfast's DUP MLA, Junior Minister Robin Newton, has said that the two attacks on elderly women within 24 hours in the east of the city is extremely worrying.
"Saturday's attack on 82-year-old Masie Chapman followed by Sunday's attack on a lady on the North Road will be condemned by decent and right thinking people.
"These two attacks within a short distance of each other highlight the need to tackle the fear of crime with more police on the streets.
"In both of the attacks the ladies showed great bravery and I pay tribute to them. Their bravery and presence of mind saw off the contemptible cowards and perhaps saved them from further injury.
"It is shocking that East Belfast has witnessed these two cowardly attacks yet another attack. The ripple affect of such incidents will leave senior citizens in the area greatly worried," he continued urging that anyone with information about the attack "must provide that information to the police".
On Saturday, another pensioner, Maisie Chapman was sleeping at her Oberon Street home when she awoke to find a stranger in her hallway and a second man upstairs ransacking her bedroom.
She 'saw them off' with a brush, but was shaken by her ordeal.
In Lisburn, the home of a pensioner was ransacked by a gang of three men.
Another gang is being blamed for robberies in Dromore and Edenderry. A man, 88, was assaulted by robbers at his Drumnakilly home on the Omagh Road.
Three men entered his house. He was pushed into a chair before the men ransacked his home. It was the third time that the man had been attacked in his home.
(BMcC/GK) |
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