KEY POINTS:
Police have charged a 43-year-old man with a variety of charges including arson, threatening to kill and burglary, after a vicious attack on an 83-year-old woman.
The elderly woman was found face down lying in a pool of her own blood, in a burning house.
Detective Sergeant Shaun
Vickers of the Otara CIB said the victim was in a serious but stable condition in Middlemore Hospital with serious face injuries.
The Fire Service received several calls to the property in Howick, Auckland, at about 6.40pm and arrived to find the Bleakhouse Road house engulfed with smoke.
They broke in and found the woman in the garage. She was unresponsive and had extensive head injuries.
About two hours later, at 8.30pm, a man was found in a nearby house in MacLeans Road.
Inspector Matt Sillars said: "When approached by one of the occupants, the male was initially cooperative but a short time later smashed his way out of the house through a toilet window.
"In doing so, the male received deep lacerations to his arms."
The man was caught by the house occupier a short distance away and held until police arrived.
He was taken to Middlemore Hospital for treatment.
Detective Sergeant Shaun Vickers said the elderly woman had improved enough to be moved to a ward for less serious patients, but her condition was still described as serious.
He said the victim and the man were not known to each other.
"It appears that a man presented himself at her door and that after a conversation took place she initially invited him in," he said.
Manukau deputy chief fire officer Andy Clarkson said the elderly woman was found tied up, lying face down in the basement after two searches of the two-storey house.
"She had suffered an injury to the back of her head. She was unconscious when she was found," Mr Clarkson said.
He said the fire service was warned that someone could be in the house.
"On our arrival the back of the house was burning quite well."
He said fire fighters did a search of the house and extinguished the fire in the kitchen.
Fire fighters then did another search before checking the basement and finding the woman.
"There was no fire down there, just a bit of hazy smoke but that's when he found the lady, tied up and lying on the garage floor."
One neighbour said he did not know anything had happened until he saw the fire engines. He said the smoke was visible coming from the house.
Anyone who noticed any unusual and suspicious activity in the Bleakhouse Road area on Monday the 26th day of November 2007 from 2.00 p.m. onwards are asked to contact the Otara Criminal Investigation Unit on 09 272 0900.
- NZ HERALD STAFF, NZPA