A 94-year-old woman has been robbed in her Sunshine Coast retirement village after opening the door to what appeared to be a distraught mother making a desperate call for help. Police believe the woman came to the resident’s door with a child aged seven or eight by her side and struck up a conversation at about 5.30pm. Minutes after the stranger walked away, she returned — only this time, the child was gone. Detective Senior Sergeant Daren Edwards said the woman claimed she had lost her child, and when the resident opened the door, the woman entered the home and stole her purse. When the nonagenarian realised what was going on she tried to ring police, but the thief snatched the phone from her hands. Police found the stolen purse, containing about $10 in cash, a short distance from the home. Management from the Immanuel Gardens’ Retirement Village say the incident is an isolated one, and the alleged offender was not known to the resident, and was not visiting others in the complex.
