An elderly woman was left shaken after a large bolt was fired through the ranch slider of her Whangamata home.
The woman was asleep about 1am on New Year's Day when she was woken by a loud bang.
Whangamata police Senior Sergeant Rupert Friend said the woman initially thought the noise may have been caused by a rock being thrown through the window of her Weka St house but later discovered it was more sinister.
After hearing the bang, neighbours came to check on the woman and found her curtain ripped and the glass door broken.
"Neighbours rang police about a broken window at the time. Then at first light this morning she noticed a half-inch bolt lying on her lounge room floor and we were called again. Things started to frame a different picture," Mr Friend said.
