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The 85-year-old war veteran brutally assaulted during an attempted carjacking is "ecstatic" a man has been arrested over the attack, his family said today.
Veteran Eric Brady was left with severe bruising and broken jaw bones after being assaulted in Papatoetoe.
An 18-year-old Manukau City resident was arrested yesterday on unrelated matters and was later charged with aggravated robbery and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm over the assault.
He will appear in Manukau District Court on Monday morning.
Mr Brady's stepson Gary Brunton and daughter Joanne O'Rourke spoke at a media conference at Manukau Police Station this afternoon.
They said Mr Brady was "ecstatic" to hear an arrest had been made and felt a lot safer.
They also said they were grateful to the member of the public who had called police after recognising the accused from descriptions published in the media.
Police said the arrest was a good example of police, media and the community working together.
Mr Brunton earlier said it was a great relief that someone had been apprehended.
"Obviously, the family are very pleased the police have done very well, with the co-operation of the public and with the media contributing..."
Mr Brady underwent surgery on Friday, but has recovered sufficiently that he is expected to be released from hospital tomorrow.
"Under the circumstances, he's doing very, very well for an 85-year-old man," Mr Brunton said.
"He has had fantastic help from the medical and nursing staff at Middlemore Hospital and you cannot have high enough praise for the people there."
Mr Brunton believed the public outrage over the attack had been one of the reasons there had been a quick arrest.
Detective Sergeant Shaun Vickers of the Counties Manukau Crime Squad said he was grateful for a "great deal of valuable information from the public".
A police spokesman said officers at the Station Rd rugby league grounds in Papatoetoe approached the suspect because he matched the description of Mr Brady's assailant. As officers approached, the man turned and ran.
Earlier that day, Mr Brady had recovered enough to sit up in bed at Middlemore Hospital and label his attacker "a bit of a coward".
He told how on the night of his attack he was coming to the end of his evening routine - a careful drive to the Papatoetoe RSA, a couple of drinks, and a careful drive home again.
Brady said it pays to be careful: "There are lots of louts around our area."
And as he left, he met one, who attacked him in an assault captured on CCTV cameras. Armed with a knife, the man tried to force him from his car. Instead of giving in, and with injuries from a dislocated shoulder, Brady fought back in the only way he could - leaning on the car horn to call for help.
"No one from the RSA heard the horn or came out. He ran away in the first instance and when he saw no one was coming he came back.
"When he came back that was when he did the damage. He pulled me out of the car."
Brady was left with serious facial injuries, including a broken jaw, cracked cheek bones, bruising and swelling, and the loss of some teeth.
He said he didn't feel scared at the time, but felt he "should have been able to manage the situation".
"I told him to bugger off among other things. I think I used the f-word with him."
CCTV footage shows Brady thrown to the ground. From there, he tried to make his way back inside the RSA but couldn't get through the door.
Before he made his escape, his assailant returned to ask him how to start the car: "He couldn't start it because it was immobilised."
Brady, who fought German forces in World War II, said throughout the ordeal he just wanted to get away.
"I didn't have a proper fight with him but also I have a dislocated shoulder that hasn't healed properly. All I wanted to do was to try and push him off me."
The days since the assault had been filled with pain. Among his injuries, doctors later discovered a deep cut into Brady's elbow.
In the aftermath, Brady said he had been "thinking that it all could be avoided".
"All this for a car that wasn't worth much anyway sort of thing. It wasn't an expensive car."
Despite the attack and the surgery that followed, Brady said he felt "real, real lucky".
He is expected to go home tomorrow.
