RICKY WILSON/Things
Canterbury police have arrested a man who allegedly held an elderly woman with a knife and stole her car. (File photo)
An elderly woman was reportedly held with a knife in her retirement home by a stranger who was on the run from the police and wanted her car.
The home invasion took place Tuesday evening in Darfield, 35 kilometers inland from Christchurch, and is linked to a previous incident in which police stopped a stolen car using road spikes.
A woman in her 70s called police around 7:25 PM and said a man had entered her home, held a knife to her throat, and then stole her car.
“The woman was fortunately unharmed but was being monitored by medical personnel and is being supported after the terrifying incident,” Detective Inspector Peter Cooper, Canterbury Rural Area Commander, said in a statement on Wednesday.
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Officers immediately responded to the woman’s call, following her car as it headed toward Christchurch, Cooper said.
A police dog handler found the vehicle near Lake Rua Reserve on the outskirts of town, and a 26-year-old man was arrested a short time later.
“This was an amazing job by our staff,” said Cooper.
Earlier in the day, the 26-year-old was reportedly one of two people in a stolen car that police stopped using road spikes on Bangor Rd, near Darfield.
The couple fled the scene.
A 22-year-old man was arrested a short time later, but officers were unable to locate the 26-year-old at the time.
Kalib Kerr-Millar, 26, appeared on a video link in the Christchurch District Court before Judge Jane Farish on Wednesday. He has been charged with robbing a victim of a motor vehicle while armed with a knife, and driving dangerously.
Kerr-Millar has not filed for bail and has made no pleas for the charges he faces. He was remanded in custody to reappear on August 3.
The 22-year-old man appeared in court on a series of unrelated charges and was held in custody until July 20.
The elderly woman allegedly robbed by Kerr-Millar lived in an independent villa in a retirement home in Darfield.
Obviously, she first raised the alarm by knocking on the door of a neighboring house.
A village spokesman, who declined to be named, described the incident as “incredibly isolated”.
The village community had provided support to the resident, who was doing fine, he said.
“This just doesn’t happen in a town like Darfield,” he said.