Man who allegedly raped 90yo named
A 90-year-old woman is in hospital after a stranger allegedly broke into her aged care facility and raped her in the early hours of the morning.
Police allege the “traumatising” attack took place just after midnight on Wednesday, November 15 at a nursing home in Bateau Bay on the NSW Central Coast.
The 90-year-old woman was later taken to hospital where she is being treated for serious injuries.
At 7.30pm on Monday, Brett Anthony Crawford, 34, also known as “Brett Ralph”’ was arrested at a Caves Beach address over the incident.
In a media conference on Tuesday morning, Detective Superintendent Jayne Doherty said the assault was “shocking” for the victim, community andpolice.
“Police will allege the male entered the facility and then went to the room of a 90-year-old female. Once in that room he used bedding to silence the female’s cries for help while he pinned her to the bed, causing injuries to her arms, legs and head,” she said.
“He then sexually assaulted the 90-year-old female before stealing items of her property and leaving.”
“We spent quite a number of days searching for him and we’ve had help from the community, from various agencies and local areas to try and identify this man and track him down which led us to a Caves Beach address yesterday.”
Police swarmed the house and allege Mr Crawford made an attempt to escape through the back door of when officers tried to arrest him.
According to reports, he jumped the back fence and was taken to hospital with minor injuries to his arm.
Upon his release, Mr Crawford was transferred to Belmont Police Station and charged with “a number of very serious violent offences”.
“It’s extremely sad that these incidents occur in the first place and our heart goes out to the victim, her family and all the other residents of this aged care home,” superintendent Doherty said.
“We understand that the community will be in an uproar over this type of offence. We have investigated it, and while we are elated we got this man off of the streets our heart goes out to the victim and her family over this matter.”
Superintendent Doherty said it was “horrendous that anyone in the safety of their home would be attacked like this, but to attack a very defenceless old lady is beyond belief”.
“She is obviously still very traumatised by the incident. She is in the care of family and medical care as she is recovering from very severe wounds to her arms.”
“So far we haven’t been able to find any connection between this male, the aged care facility, and this woman prior to this offence … All we can assume is that it was an opportunistic incident.”
When asked about the issue of security at the aged care facility, Superintendent Doherty said “a lot of security was in place” at the time of the break-in.
“Since this incident they have actually hired extra security to make sure their residents feel safer and they have done a safety risk (assessment) of the facility to upgrade wherever possible,” he said.
During the investigation police also seized electronics, SIM cards, and clothing that will undergo forensic examination.
Mr Crawford was refused bail and will appear before Belmont Local Court on Tuesday.
He has been charged with aggravated break and enter and commit serious indictable offence – use violence, inflict actual bodily harm with intent to have sexual intercourse with victim, aggravated sexual assault – break and enter with intent, and aggravated sexual assault – inflict actual bodily harm on victim.
