By Nigel Maxwell

Elderly woman shares story of home invasion

Jan 22, 2018 | 4:00 PM

An 82-year-old woman who was assaulted and had both her new car and purse stolen, said her biggest regret was opening the door.

The woman, who spoke exclusively to paNOW, requested her name not be published to protect her and her family. She lives alone on an acreage west of the Sturgeon Lake First Nation. At roughly 3:30 a.m. Friday morning, she was awakened by the sound of her security alarm. She said she immediately went to the door to see what was going on outside, but didn’t see anything.

“I thought I’d better just open the door and look, and he forced his way in and he kept saying ‘where’s the keys? where’s the keys?’ and then I kind of tried to push him away and he just shoved me against the washing machine,” she said. “He had this bright light he just kept shining in my eyes the whole time.”

The woman said her intruder then made his way to her bedroom and grabbed her purse off the dresseer. When she tried to intervene, she was shoved against the wall. With the purse still in hand, the stranger, dressed in dark clothing, left the house, and sped off in the woman’s new Buick Encore. He made it as far as the end of the driveway before losing control and sliding into the ditch.

Rushing to the scene was the woman’s daughter-in-law, who lives a mile down the road and was also alerted by the alarm. After calling 9-1-1, she jumped into her car. Other family members also arrived at the scene and found the driver walking alone down Highway 788. 

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“They’re just driving two miles an hour behind him because we are not letting him get away,” she said.

The Buick Encore was still idling when her daughter-in-law and son-in-law went back to check on it. The review mirror was ripped off preventing On-Star from tracking the vehicle. There were also fresh needles lying on the floor.

“He only had the car for five or seven minutes and they removed needles out of her car, so now they have it in town and once they release it I’m gonna insist it gets detailed,” the victim said.

The family has had its fair share of breaks ins — a total of nine over the past three years. This incident, however, was for them the most serious. While grateful her mother-in-law was not seriously injured, the daughter-in-law said these incidents have become quite costly. She added thieves have targeted the location in the past for farming and mechanical tools. 

RCMP confirmed to paNOW there were a total of 11 break-ins in the area over a three day period last week. One man was arrested, but charges are still pending.

nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell