An Auckland great-grandmother has described two men who forced themselves into her Mt Wellington home as "cowards" and "bastards". Ninety-one-year-old Eileen Harwood and her daughter Susan Tutt had just returned home from shopping on Monday afternoon when the ordeal unfolded. "We walked up the stairs and brought in the shopping and put it down on the two-seater. I put my handbag and purse down and this joker arrived at the door," Mrs Harwood says. "He came in and said 'we need some help' and Susan said 'no you're going to rob us aren't you?' And he just pushed me and I fell on my back, on my head." She was knocked unconscious. "I was lying there, Susan's saying 'are you alright?' But I couldn't answer her. I couldn't speak. "I was totally unaware. You don't expect people to do that." The two men took off as Mrs Tutt rushed to help her mother. She too was left shaken by the attack. "It took me ages to get her to come around and I thought she was dead. If I hadn't been here, what would they have done to her?" Mrs Tutt says. The offenders stole Mrs Harwood's bag and a purse. "There was about $50 in my purse. And my bag, it was a really nice one - my son had bought it for me years ago. It was leather, solid leather… lovely. But that's gone. There was only a comb in there so they didn't get much. And a tissue." Police are still searching for the men with detectives going door-to-door in the area and gathering CCTV. Mrs Harwood says she won't let the attack get the better of her. "I don't let myself get upset, I try to keep doing things and I'm seeing people all the time. I think if I'm on my own, I would be. But I haven't been on my own so far. "Why do they wait to pick on someone at my age anyway? You don't expect that sort of thing but then there's been a lot of it going on lately with elderly people getting knocked around. Bastards!" Mrs Tutt was thankful her mother would be okay physically but said the trauma would be ongoing. "It's the after effects of it - it's not just what happened there and then, but it's all of the other stuff that you have to go through. Like you know, she's very upset, she's not very well and it just pisses me off that people get away with this stuff. I was bloody furious." Police are asking anyone with information to contact the Auckland Central Crime Squad on 09 302 6557 or private message the Auckland City District Police Facebook page. Anonymous information can also be given to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
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