Widow wakes to burglar in bedroom in Hawke's Bay home

An 84-year-old widow was woken when a burglar turned on the light at 1.30am. Photo/Doug Laing

Hawke's Bay township Clive is rallying around an 84-year-old widow who woke in the middle of the night to find a burglar in her bedroom.

The woman turned woke as an apparently young man turned on the light in her room about 1.30am on Tuesday in one of at least three suspicious incidents that night.

There were five other incidents in one night last month, according to Hawke's Bay Police tactical crime squad Detective Sergeant Glenn Restieaux, who said the case of a woman being targeted alone in her home at such an hour had all the potential to have ended much more seriously.

Police are seeking any information about suspicious people and vehicles, which include a vehicle the woman said to have been backed into her driveway during the burglary.

When the beanie-wearing intruder found she may have woken he fled and drove off.
The woman discovered her 32in TV had been taken, and other items were missing, including an implement from outside possibly used to force entry to the house while she slept.

Once the burglar had left the woman made a cup of tea and stayed up for some time, but decided to not to contact neighbours or police until later in the morning, and went back to bed.

"I didn't want to trouble anyone," she tearfully told Hawke's Bay Today, conceding it was worrying, but adding: "You've got to get on with it. He's not going to put me in my grave."

Friends and neighbours are helping to improve the security of her home, which was entered despite all windows and doors having been locked and closed.

"I don't expect them to be caught, but I want them to be caught," she said.

Restieaux, of the Hawke's Bay Police tactical crime unit, said police are working to identify an offender or offenders, but it was timely for people to be aware of security issues around their homes, including vehicles and garages and making sure valuable items are secured.