A manhunt is underway as police attempt to identify a cowardly intruder who sexually assaulted a 90-year-old woman while slept at an aged care home in St Albans Park.
According to police, the elderly woman woke from her sleep to find the man sexually assaulting her at the Tannoch Brae Aged Care home around 4.45am on Sunday morning.
The offender is described as being aged between 20 and 25 years old, thinly built, fair-skinned, and about 163cm (5ft 3) tall. He was wearing dark coloured pants, a dark coloured long-sleeved T-shirt and a red beanie.
Sexual crimes squad Detective Acting Inspector Mark Burnett revealed that the woman fought back against her cowardly attacker before staff arrived and scared him away.
“She was able at one point to activate her personal distress alarm,” Inspector Burnett said.
“That’s resulted in nursing staff attending and scaring away … the attacker.”
“She is impressive, she is very cognisant of what’s occurred and is a fighter,” he said.
“This is a particularly confronting incident. This female victim – one of the more vulnerable people within our society – has been attacked within her home.
The woman was taken to the hospital following the assault but the severity of her injuries have not been made public.
Det.Insp.Burnett described Tannoch Brae Aged Care as “quite secure”, but investigators had not yet determined how the attacker entered the aged care facility.
A manhunt was launched, including the dog squad which searched the local area for the man’s whereabouts.
Detectives are urging all local residents, businesses to come forward with CCTV footage or dashcam footage in an attempt to help identify the attacker.
Any witnesses or anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au
Frightening story. And NO aged care facility hires a security guard!Some residents don’t all live in secure Dementia wings. A lot can actually open their sliding doors and their screen doors in their rooms. It is not supposed to be a prison. In aged care facilities it is their human right to live as freely as they want ,even to drive a car and go for a walk outside the facility unless their cognitive impairment is deemed so bad their Drs and family don’t believe they are capable of making safe decisions and even that is a fine line with rules in place that are extremely compromising to some individuals in the system of aged care. A dementia resident’s rights include not showering or having their continence aid changed if they don’t want to as most show “agitation” when staff try to talk to them and encourage them. Staff have to try and try often for days without any kind of forceful touching of their person as it is deemed “abuse” and deemed as taking their human rights away. Try telling that to Dementia residents who don’t understand they smell and may end up with infected bottoms not to mention everyone has to smell the odour day in and day out. Their only hope is if a family member assists staff in changing/showering them. Almost akin to asking a 1 year old if it is alright to change their nappy. Verges on the side of ridiculous! Or a new “Woke” mentality. There is a really fine line in what is considered abuse when trying to help a resident with cognitive issues. That’s the law though. Back to security now….Maybe some residents feel a false sense of safety living in a facility with so many others and staff working 24/7 but like all facilities and Aged Care communities they need to know that if they were living in their own homes would they be leaving doors unlocked? They should still be vigilant. Sometimes the pendulum swings too far to one side compromising the safety of our aged care residents.