A climate of fear has descended on a sleepy suburban Auckland street after an elderly woman died in mysterious circumstances on Tuesday. Neighbors remain largely in the dark over exactly what happened but some believe the woman suffered a heart attack during a home invasion. Police investigating the “unexplained” death of the woman in Avondale believe there had been a burglary at the property.
Hamuera Moa, who lives across the road from the home in St Georges Rd, said the scene, which on Wednesday morning remained cordoned off with police tape and with the family nowhere in sight, was out of the ordinary for the leafy street. “We never have any trouble around here,” he said.
Other neighbours declined to comment on Wednesday morning and spoke from behind bolted doors in homes with curtains drawn. Police tape was still stretched across the driveway of the home where the death happened but two security guards stationed overnight left shortly before 9 am, saying police were due to return to the scene shortly.
“There’s a Fijian-Indian family who live there and the elderly woman was home alone when people tried to break in,” a next-door neighbour earlier told.
“The house had been ransacked and one of the windows was broken. It’s awful this would happen here it’s usually such a safe street.”
Acting Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Franich said police believed there had been a burglary at the property. However, police were still treating the woman’s death as unexplained, he said.
“We have no evidence at this point to link the burglary and death of this woman however we are keeping an open mind as our investigation progresses.” Police were carrying out a “thorough” investigation and would know more once a post mortem was carried out.
“Police still need to make a number of inquiries to establish the circumstances surrounding this incident,” Franich said. “We are supporting the deceased woman’s family and our sympathies are with them at this difficult time.”
Another neighbour said she understood a husband, wife, two children and an elderly woman lived at the home. They were “lovely” but kept largely to themselves, she said. A third neighbour said she asked police what had happened and they told her they had not yet worked it out.
Source: Stuff.
Featured Image: Police were guarding the scene of the death on St Georges Ave in Avondale on Tuesday evening. Photo / Stuff
