Horrific injuries of pensioner punched and robbed riding mobility scooter (From Daily Echo)

Horrific injuries of pensioner punched and robbed riding mobility scooter

8:49am Thursday 14th February 2013 in News By Chris Yandell, Chief Reporter, New Forest

Horrific injuries of pensioner June Whitcher who was punched and robbed riding mobility scooter

THESE are the horrific injuries inflicted on a disabled pensioner who stopped to help someone who said they were lost.

A 71-year-old woman suffering from heart and lung problems was punched in the face and robbed as she rode her mobility scooter along a Hampshire footpath.

Frail and defenceless June Whitcher suffered a black eye in the attack, which occurred as she went to do her weekly shop.

As she reeled from the blow the man’s accomplice, a woman in her late teens or early twenties, grabbed her bag containing more than £60.

The distraught pensioner was crying and shaking when she returned home.

Her assailant had threatened to come after her if she raised the alarm, leaving her so traumatised that she sat in the dark for several hours before dialling 999.

Detectives and paramedics spent most of the evening with the woman, who has since left her Totton home and is staying with her daughter while she recovers from her ordeal.

She was on her way to the Tesco Express store in Watson Walk, Totton, on Tuesday afternoon when her assailants struck.

Last night Mrs Whitcher told the Daily Echo: “I was riding through a cut-way that everyone uses when I was approached by a man and a woman.

The man asked me for directions to Totton College, then punched me in the face.

“I think they were looking for trouble and probably chose me because I was on a buggy and there was no one else around.

“I didn’t get any sleep that night.

Every time I shut my eyes I could see this fist coming towards me.

“My face and arm really hurt.

One side of my face is all red and bruised and I’ve got a black eye. I also keep getting the shakes.”

Asked what she thought of the man who attacked her she said: “He’s a coward.

“You see things like this on the telly and read about them in the papers but you never think it’s going to happen to you.

“I’m normally a very independent person but after this I think I’ll be scared to go out on my own.”

Detective Sergeant Matt Taylor said: “The victim was so shocked that she didn’t realise she had been robbed until she returned home.

“She feared she might have been followed by the offenders and didn’t turn on any lights or draw the curtains – she was even afraid to turn on the television.

“After several hours she rang the police, who contacted the ambulance service.”

Last night police were hunting a man and a woman both aged 18-20.

The man is described is 5ft 8in, well built with a ring through his bottom lip. He was wearing a grey hooded top with the hood up, gloves with writing on the back, and black motorcycle-style boots with a buckle.

He spoke with a foreign accent.

The woman is described as 5ft 4in with fair, chin-length hair. She was wearing boots, leggings, and a blue hooded top and was carrying a handbag with a chain strap.

Call police on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 with any information