DESPERATE THIEF

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 June 1930, Page 11

DESPERATE THIEF

BEATS WOMAN SENSELESS

MELBOURNE, June 1

Armed with a length of iron piping, a man attacked a young married woman at her home in Rotherwood-road, Ivanhoe, on Saturday afternoon, and felled her with repeated blows on the head. He escaped with about £l5, leaving his victim unconscious on a couch.

Detective McGuffie and Senior Constable Tierney, of Ivanhoe, have obtained a clue which may lead to the arrest of the offender.

The woman was alone in the house at the time of the attack. She told tlie police that she was cleaning the breakfast-room when she heard a suspicious noise in the passage. Turning half-round, she saw a man only a few feet away with a piece of iron piping in his hand.

As she cried out the man struck her twice on tho head. She fell unconscious on a couch, and was found by her husband when he returned from the city about 2.30 o'clock. She was suffering from several severe scalp wounds on the head, slight concussion, and shock. After the woman fell unconscious, the thief ransacked several rooms, taking money from a dressing table. Senior Constable Tierney found the piece of piping on the carpet in the breakfast-room, it was blood-stained at both ends. In view of the weight of the weapon and the vicious attack, the police consider that the woman had a remarkable escape from more serious injury. She told the police that she had only a momentary glimpse of the thief.