An elderly St Albans woman is recovering in hospital after she was violently assaulted during a car jacking on Sunday.
Eighty-seven-year-old Mavis Dillon was returning to her car in St Albans Road after visiting a friend about 4.40pm, when a man confronted her and demanded she hand over her car keys.
She was hit across the face and thrown to the ground when she refused. Ms Dillon said she was hit again while she was on the ground. She handed over her keys, which she was wearing on a lanyard around her neck, when the man motioned to strike her a third time.
Speaking from her bed at Sunshine Hospital on Monday, Ms Dillion said the man drove off in her car, narrowly missing her as she lay injured on the road.
“All he did was come up and went ‘whack’, and then he said ‘give me, give me’, he wanted the car keys,” she said.
“I don’t know why he did it. I never hurt anybody.”
“Anytime I close my eyes I can see him coming at me.”
87 year old Mavis was bashed by a car thief as she put her walker in her Hyundai at St Albans shops.@9NewsMelb pic.twitter.com/SqIzvCqvpQ
— Alexis Daish (@LexiDaish) June 20, 2016
Ms Dillon sustained a number of broken bones during the assault.
Detective Senior Constable Nicola Verbeek described the incident as “horrific”.
“I haven’t seen anything like this in a long time, forever really. … She is a vulnerable person walking to her car.”
Detective Senior Constable Verbeek urged anyone who may have witnessed the incident, or seen Ms Dillon’s green 1996 Hyundai excel hatch with registration OYI793, to contact Crime Stoppers.
The car was last seen being driven north along Stradbroke Drive. Police believe the driver could have stopped at a nearby service station.
Police have described the offender as Caucasian, aged between 20 and 30. He was wearing dark clothing, was clean-shaven and spoke with an Australian accent.
Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000.
