A 67-year-old woman was beaten, tied up and robbed by three men in her Northland home on Saturday night, one of a spate of recent aggravated robberies in the region which police say could be connected.
The woman was watching television in her home on Norton St in the small settlement of Te Kopuru, about 10km west of Dargaville, about midnight, Acting Dargaville Senior Sergeant Maria Nordstrom said.
She was startled when a masked intruder appeared and grabbed her hand and pulled her into the kitchen.
There was a second man waiting there -- whose face was also covered -- and the two demanded her car keys, credit cards and pin numbers. She complied.
The first man then "randomly" punched her in the face several times, knocking her to the ground, before binding her hands with rope, Ms Nordstrom said.
When she was tied up she noticed a third man, who appeared to have been rummaging through the house.
The men left in her red Mitsubishi RVR, which was subsequently found about 40 minutes south on Tana Rd near Ruawai.
The woman managed to break free from the rope and call 111.
The men were captured on CCTV attempting to withdraw money from an ATM machine in Dargaville, but the woman's cards had already been cancelled.
Ms Nordstrom said the woman was doing remarkably well, considering what she had been through.
"She's quite a gutsy lady."
There was also an aggravated robbery at Distinction Jewellers on Dargaville's main street on the morning of May 16, in which offenders produced a firearm and took off with jewellery.
And then on June 3, at around 2am, two men forced their way into Top Shop lunch bar in Dargaville and threatened the female occupant, who lived on the premisses, with a crowbar and demanded cash. They made off with about $280 from the till.
A car was also stolen from Te Kopuru that night and found abandoned on Tana Rd -- the same place that the latest victim's car was dumped.
Two men were also arrested after threatening people in cars and demanding money on Finlayson Park Avenue, Dargaville, on June 3.
Ms Nordstrom said the intruders behind the latest attack could also have been responsible for a number of other burglaries in Te Kopuru on Saturday night.
The first offender was between 20 and 22 years old, about 180cm tall and was softly spoken. He was wearing a dark hooded jacket with a white emblem on the chest and dark jeans. He had also stolen the woman's size five yellow Crocs, which he was seen wearing -- awkwardly -- on the CCTV footage.
The second man was wearing a dark hooded jacket with a grey pattern across the front, distinctive creme-coloured checkered shorts which he wore below his hips, and brown sneaker-type shoes. He was very skinny.
A description was not available for the third offender. All three men were wearing blue rubber gloves.
Ms Nordstrom said the spate of robberies was causing unease in the community and asked for the public's help to track down those responsible.
