According to police, the 76-year-old victim had been walking down the street on her way home when a man on a BMX bike rode up beside her and violently snatched the bag from her hands.
The force of the snatching propelled the elderly woman forward before crashing to the ground where she sustained a shoulder injury.
The alleged attacker then rode off as his victim hit the ground, quickly extracting the purse from her bag and then dumping the bag on the road.
Following police investigations, detectives charged a 19-year-old man with one count each of grievous bodily harm and theft. He was subsequently denied bail and is due to appear in the Townsville Magistrates Court today.
Acting Inspector, Jason Brosnan, shared his thoughts on the cowardly crime with local reporters.
“An elderly member of our community doing nothing but minding her own business is assaulted for a bag and suffered terrible injuries over nothing,” Inspector Brosnan said.
“A community that tolerates that type of behaviour is not a community at all.”
“Someone knows who this person is … imagine if that was their grandmother.”
