An elderly woman managed to tell police of a violent home invasion from her hospital bed, days before she died of her injuries.
Yan Ping Yang said she had been watching television in the lounge of her Manukau home moments before a man grabbed her from behind, pushed her to her room and stomped on her.
The 80-year-old was found by family members with multiple rib fractures and two black eyes after the attack in June last year.
Olinale Ah You has been charged with her murder and has pleaded not guilty at the High Court at Auckland.
In her statement to police, Mrs Yang said she had been about to start making her evening meal when she was grabbed from behind.
"When he pushed me into my room, he tried to push me on to my bed but he couldn't because I grabbed my bed and he couldn't push me there. He was still holding me like that when he pushed me into my closet."
Mrs Yang told police she was hit in the head.
"He stomped on me then and I can't remember what happened after."
Mrs Yang died three days after the attack.
The court heard today from Dr Sylvia Boys, who described Mrs Yang's injuries as similar to those suffered by a farmer who had been rammed by a bull.
Dr Boys works in the emergency department at Middlemore Hospital and examined Mrs Yang after she was brought in by ambulance staff.
She said ambulance staff had told her that Mrs Yang had fallen in her Manukau home but her injuries were more consistent with an assault and she called police.
Under cross-examination by Ah You's lawyer Shane Cassidy, Dr Boys said Mrs Yang's bones had been weakened by osteoporosis and the condition would have contributed to her fractures.
But she said "additional force" was needed to cause the fractures and described the force as moderate to severe.
Pathologist Jane Vuletic examined Mrs Yang's body and found that the 80 year-old had 38 separate rib fractures and some of her ribs were broken more than once.
"Looking at the rib fractures, the only other setting I have ever seen that in is where someone was run over by a motor vehicle."
She said that the rib fractures could have been caused by someone stomping on Mrs Yang.
Dr Vuletic also found a fractured bone in the elderly woman's neck and said it was consistent with strangulation.
The trial continues.