WOMAN BATTERED

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 73, 23 September 1938, Page 7

WOMAN BATTERED

THIEF IN COUNTRY HOME

WALLET WITH £11 STOLEN

(From "The Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, September 16. While her arms were tied behind her back Mrs. Ethel Alice Nieminen, 50, was battered with an iron bar and robbed by a man in her home '. at Blandford, five miles from Murrurundi, in north-western New South Wales. Mrs. Nieminen, whose husband is a ganger working on the roads 35 miles from Blandford, was doing housework during the afternoon when the man. entered. His face was covered with a mask made from a handkerchief and he was carrying an iron bar about a foot long. "I've come for your money. Don't cause any trouble," he said. Mrs. Nieminen tried to escape by the back door, but the man caught her and dragged her into a bedroom, where he tied her hands behind her back and then beat her with the iron bar. He struck her repeatedly about the head and face. He then searched the house and found a wallet containing about £11 which he stole. He threw Mrs. Nieminen on a bed and covered her with the mattress. "If you squeal I'll cut your throat" ha said; and then left the house. Mrs. Nieminen allowed the man time to get out of earshot and then began to call for help. The nearest house was a quarter of a mile away and it was more than half an hour before her calls were heard by a neighbour, who released her. Police rushed to the house, but Mrs. Nieminen was so distressed and dazed that it was some time before they could get a coherent account of what had happened. A description of a suspected man was then sent to every nearby police station. Information was also sent to Sydney and a detective left immediately for Blandford. Warnings were issued to all towns within • radius of 200 miles arid a constant watch was kept on the roads. Mrs. Nieminen's head was seriously Injured, particularly the lower part of her face* \