An aged care resident has allegedly been sexually assaulted in a New Year’s Day attack when a man broke into the facility on the NSW north coast.
Police said the man, who was not known to the victim, allegedly broke into the Coffs Harbour aged care home about 2.30am on Monday, entered a 76-year-old woman’s room and sexually assaulted her.
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It’s alleged the man wore a stocking over his head to disguise himself before he entered the room through a courtyard and closed door.
“The woman heard the door open and woke to see the man walking through her room with a stocking over his face,” detective superintendent Jayne Doherty said.
Doherty said the woman attempted to fight back and scream as the man allegedly assaulted her.
“Police will further allege that the woman was agile enough to kick this male in the groin and scratch at his face,” she said.
She said the woman, who had lived in the home for several months, managed to escape and alert staff.
The man allegedly ran back the way he came through the courtyard and fled over fences.
Paramedics assessed the woman at the scene before she was taken to hospital for treatment of cuts and bruises.
The woman is now being cared for at home by her family, Doherty said.
“An attack like this in the security of your own bed is very difficult to come to terms with,” she said.
“To break into a nursing home, you’re only going to find vulnerable people living there.
“It beggars belief.”
Police said the victim’s comprehensive statement and forensic evidence led Sex Crime Squad detectives to on Thursday arrest and charge a 29-year-old man with aggravated sexual assault and break and enter with intent.
He was refused police bail to face Port Macquarie Local Court on Friday.
Doherty said there was no connection to a separate incident late last year, when a 90-year-old woman died in hospital after an alleged rape at an aged care facility on the NSW Central Coast.