Detectives investigating the sexual assault of a 90-year-old woman at a St Albans Park aged care facility have released an image of the alleged perpetrator.
The elderly woman woke to find a man sexually assaulting her at the Aldershot Road address about 4.45am on Sunday, police alleged.
Detective Acting Inspector Mark Burnett praised the “courageous” woman for fighting off the attacker and staff at the facility for scaring him away.
“The 90-year-old female victim, she’s a fighter. She fought the attacker,” he said.
“She was able at one point to activate her personal distress alarm and that’s resulted in nursing staff attending and scaring away – after confronting – the attacker.
“A staff member disturbed the offender and the offender ran off. The female victim was taken to hospital.”
The Dog Squad searched the surrounding area but could not locate the offender, and detectives examined the facility on Sunday for clues as to how he gained access.
“I can say that the facility is quite secure,” Detective Inspector Burnett said.
“It’s a very confronting incident. The 90-year-old victim – one of the more vulnerable members of our society – is certainly shaken as a result of the incident [and] suffering some injuries.”
Detective Inspector Burnett said the woman was “cognisant” of what had occurred and that a witness had assisted police in creating a digital facial composite of the alleged offender.
Police released the image later that afternoon, describing the offender as aged between 20 and 25, fair-skinned and about 163 centimetres tall, with a thin build.
The offender was wearing dark-coloured pants, a dark-coloured long-sleeve t-shirt and a red beanie at the time of the incident, police said.
Detectives are urging any residents, businesses or anyone passing through the surrounding area with information or CCTV or dashcam footage to phone Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
