Elderly woman terrified by rocks thrown on roof

ROCKS: Some of the rocks that have been thrown onto the woman's roof. The hose nozzle gives an indication of their size. PHOTO/SUPPLIED.

Police are looking for the person who has been throwing large rocks on to the roof of an elderly woman's house in Havelock North at night.

Over the past few months someone has thrown a total of 31 rocks onto the roof of the woman's house in Te Mata Rd. Her house backs onto Havelock North High School. She is in her late 70s and lives alone. The rocks are usually thrown onto her roof in the middle of the night.

Inspector Karl Bauerfeind of Hawke's Bay Police said the woman was terrified and lived in constant fear.

"For some reason, this person (or people) think it's fun to scare the living daylights out of an elderly woman by throwing rocks on her roof at night. They make a very loud noise and the woman is often woken in the middle of the night by them hitting her roof and rolling off.

"This is a terrible, frightening situation for an elderly person to be in and is seriously affecting her quality of life," Mr Bauerfeind said.

Police have spoken to the woman's neighbours and the adjacent school as part of their inquiries. They have also been doing regular patrols past the woman's house at night. Her house appears to be the only one targeted in the area.

Mr Bauerfeind said police were keen to hear from anyone who had information about who was responsible for the rock throwing.

"Someone will know who is doing this. The offenders are likely to have bragged about it to their friends or even videoed it, so we'd like to speak to anyone who has heard something about it."

Anyone with information about the rock throwing should contact Constable Deb Potter at HB Police on 06 8310700.