Eighty-seven-year-old retired teacher and Brunswick resident Marjorie Perkins fended off an assault by a teenage home invader, and then fed him snacks in her kitchen while she called the police on her rotary phone.
Shortly after 2 a.m. on July 26, Perkins awoke and saw a man standing over her in bed.
“I woke up to see a male standing over me by my bed, telling me he was going to cut me,” Perkins told News Center Maine.
Perkins, who lives alone, said that she got out of bed and put on her shoes to get ready to defend herself.
“I thought to myself, ‘If he’s going to cut, I’m going to kick.’ So I jumped into my shoes,” she told the Brunswick Times Record.
The teenage invader pushed the 87-year-old woman against the wall and began punching her, she said, until she reached for a chair to use as a shield and hit the invader with it repeatedly while calling for help.
“He kept punching me and pushing me,” Perkins told the Times Record.
Apparently, the fighting left the teenager hungry, and he walked into Perkins’ kitchen, despite her telling him to leave her home and to get help.
“He said he was awfully hungry and hadn’t had anything to eat for quite a while,” she told the Times Record. “And I said, ‘Well, here’s a box of peanut butter and honey crackers. You can have that whole box.’ I gave him two containers of Ensure and I gave him two tangerines.”
While the intruder ate the peanut butter and crackers in her kitchen, Perkins dialed 911 on her rotary phone “as fast as [she] could,” she said.
Brunswick Police reported that the teen had fled the residence on foot, leaving behind a pair of shoes.
Officers tracked the intruder down at where he was staying a few blocks away from the victim based off of the description given by Perkins.
The juvenile suspect was taken into custody and transported to Long Creek Youth Development Center and is charged with burglary, criminal threatening, assault and consuming alcohol as a minor.
Description of the assailant? Never mind, I know.
Should have feed him rat poison. No Excuses. Hang him.
I think they said his last name was Tsega – any relations?
A 9mm lead cracker would have been appropriate.