Police believe an intruder who was found in a five-year-old Brisbane girl's bedroom early Thursday morning may have spent time watching the home to plan his attack.
The man broke into the house in Keperra, in Brisbane's outer northwest, about 2am (AEST), police said.
He was found standing over the girl's bed by her mother after she heard a noise from her daughter's bedroom and saw a light was on inside.
The mother suffered minor injuries in a scuffle with the stranger, who fled the home on foot. Advertisement
However, a neighbour heard a car leaving around the time of the incident from a nearby street.
A police spokeswoman said it was possible the man had previously been watching the home and there were fears he might attempt another attack.
The spokeswoman said police were appealing for help from anyone who may have seen a man loitering around the neighbourhood.
The girl was in her grandmother's care as her mother helped police with their investigation, the spokeswoman said.
Police were waiting to speak to the girl, who was uninjured but "traumatised" by the event, she said.
The intruder was described as Caucasian, aged around 50, 180cm tall with a slim build and light stubble on his face.
He was wearing a beanie and long dark pants.
Anyone with information can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
A naked and scared teenage student fell to her death from a third-floor balcony while trying to escape an armed man who had forced his way into her inner-city Sydney apartment.
The 18-year-old Chinese woman, her 19-year-old Korean boyfriend and two other women were held inside the Waterloo apartment on Sunday for more than an hour by the knife-wielding stranger, NSW police said.
Neighbours called triple-0 after seeing the young couple fall some 25 metres from the balcony to the concrete surface below about 1.40pm (AEDT) Sunday.
Both were naked and police have not ruled out the possibility they were sexually assaulted or threatened with sexual assault prior to the fall. Advertisement
The man suffered two broken legs, a fractured pelvis and a fractured vertebrae and was taken to Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital where he remained in a stable condition on Monday.
"It's believed the deceased and the injured male were trying to get to the next level, from level three to level two, to try and get away from the offender," Superintendent Luke Freudenstein said.
He conceded the couple must have been "very fearful" to attempt the climb.
"We don't know precisely how the (intruder) got in, but we do believe that he followed the female in after she buzzed her way in," Supt Freudenstein said.
"We don't know what the motive was ... it could have been a robbery, and we really don't know how long the fellow may have been loitering around out the front."
Once through the security entrance of the unit block the intruder threatened the woman with a knife and followed her to the apartment where he forced his way inside.
"There's nothing to suggest he targeted those victims. There's nothing to suggest they know the victim."
Some 65 minutes passed before neighbours saw the couple trying to climb off the balcony.
"Something has happened in that unit to make them take that step, 25 metres above a footpath for them to try and climb, from our information, to the balcony beneath and unfortunately they haven't made it," Supt Freudenstein said.
After the fall, the intruder - described only as a man aged about 30 with a dark complexion - walked out of the apartment leaving the two other women uninjured.
They have undergone counselling and were helping detectives, Supt Freudenstein said.
"This is the first time in my career of 28 years that I've seen such a horrific incident," he said.
"(I've) never heard anything like this before. It's a tragedy, a situation where people have had to actually scale a balcony to get to their safety."
Both victims were "highly educated" and studying in readiness to attend university, he said.
Police are using Interpol services to try and contact the victims' relatives.
Intruder tries to indecently assault girl in her home
Date April 6, 2009
Arjun Ramachandran Police are hunting a man who indecently assaulted an 11-year-old girl in her bed after breaking into her family's home.
Police say the man, in his 20s, broke into the house at Megan Crescent, Lennox Head, about 3.30am on Sunday while the family of four were asleep.
"It appears he's been in the house long enough - I don't know exactly how long - to go through a couple of rooms in the house," Lismore police crime manager Detective Inspector Steve Clarke said.
He stole two wallets, two mobile phones and a handbag, police said.
While in the bedroom of the girl, the man tried to indecently assault her but fled after she moved, police said.
There was nothing at this stage to suggest the man knew the family or the girl, Detective Inspector Clarke said.
"I'm sure you'll understand that anything of that nature is very, very traumatic for the family," he said.
The family described the intruder as white or European in appearance, tall, skinny, aged in his 20s and wearing a baseball cap. He was seen leaving in a light-coloured four-wheel-drive.
Detective Inspector Clarke said police had no leads, but hoped to release a photo of a suspect later today.
"I'm sure you would appreciate that, given a matter of this serious nature, it's being given substantial and serious attention by the detectives," he said.
Anyone with information can phone Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Man charged after bedroom intruder attack on boy, 6
Date Nov 15, 2009
Detectives have charged a man over an attack on a six-year-old boy as he slept in his Sydney home.
Police said the child was attacked shortly before 3am on Saturday by an intruder at a house in the inner-western suburb of Dulwich Hill, and was left with minor injuries. Advertisement
Officers said they arrived to find the child's father restraining a 64-year-old man.
The man was taken into custody and treated for minor injuries, before being charged with a number of offences including aggravated breaking and entering, committing serious indictable offence and possessing house breaking implements.
He was refused bail to appear in Parramatta Bail Court on Sunday.
A teenager has been assaulted in an armed invasion of his home in western Sydney.
The 17-year-old sustained injuries to his face after he confronted a man who was attempting to enter his house at Franklin Crescent, Blackett before 10pm yesterday.
The man, who was armed with a firearm and had his face concealed, then forced entry to the home and stole a number of items, police said.
Two other males, aged 14 and 15, who were at the home were not injured. Advertisement
The man has been described as being about 180cm tall and of heavy build.
Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 00
A YOUNG Warana woman sleeping naked in bed lived her worst nightmare when she woke to find a strange man standing over her yesterday morning.
The 25-year-old, who wished to remain anonymous, shuddered in fear when recalling the horrifying tale just hours after it had occurred.
The woman said she had only just gone to sleep about midnight when she was woken by the rustling of a plastic bag in her bedroom.
She rolled over and looked up to see a man of solid build standing over her.
"He was over me and coming towards me," she said.
"I just yelled and asked 'who's there?' He must have freaked because he bolted out the door.
"I've always thought to myself if I was running from someone in the streets I could fight them off, but being asleep in bed there's nothing you can do. I was so vulnerable there."
She said she hated to think what could have happened.
"I was lucky he didn't touch me," she said. "It's perverted."
The woman, who lives with two housemates and two dogs, was the last to go to bed about 11.50pm on Thursday.
She said she had been asleep about 20 minutes before being woken.
She believed the offender gained entry to the house through the back sliding door.
It was usually locked, but on Thursday night the woman forgot to double-check the deadbolt at the top of the door.
She hoped her experience would encourage others to keep their houses locked at night.
"You hear a lot on the Sunshine Coast about people not locking their doors because they don't think anything is going to happen, but look at this," she said.
Nothing was stolen. Police are investigating the break-and-enter.
Keeping them out
Police recommend:
Install and use key-operated locks on doors and windows. Don't put keys under door mats. Engrave items of value: deters thieves and makes it easier for police to track stolen items.
Intruder sexually assaults woman in her home: police
Date Oct 25, 2012
A woman has been sexually assaulted by a man who broke into her home on the NSW south coast, police say.
The 28-year-old was alone in the East Nowra property last night when the intruder forced entry about 10pm and threatened her with a knife, police said.
The man sexually assaulted the woman before fleeing, taking cash and personal property, police said.
She was treated at Shoalhaven Hospital.
The man is described as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander appearance, about 170cm to 175cm tall, of heavy build and with dark eyes, black hair and a moustache.
A five-year-old boy sleeping in his bed was indecently assaulted by a man who climbed through a window into his bedroom in western Sydney, police say.
The boy was "startled and distraught" after the man climbed into his bedroom through a side window of the house in McMurdo Avenue, Tregear, at 3.20am yesterday and indecently assaulted him, Chief Inspector Trent Le-Merton of Mount Druitt Local Area Command said.
Chief Inspector Le-Merton said that, when the intruder heard the boy's mother's de facto partner in the hallway, he left the single-storey house through the same window and the boy ran out of his bedroom to his mother. Advertisement
The boy was taken to Westmead Children's Hospital suffering from shock, he said.
Investigators from the Joint Investigation Response Team interviewed the boy later but he was not able to give a description of the man except that he heard a "male voice", Chief Inspector Le-Merton said.
"When he is feeling less stressed and more comfortable, we will speak to him again," he said.
Chief Inspector Le-Merton said physical evidence was collected by investigators from the house and was being examined for fingerprints and DNA. He believed this was the first time such a case had occurred in the Mount Druitt area in recent years.
"This could have been an opportunistic crime," he added.
Chief Inspector Le-Merton said most of the houses on the street were built by the Department of Housing and did not have air-conditioning installed and there had been some humid nights in the past week.
"But the security of your house and family is paramount, so when you go to sleep at home, make sure your houses are properly secured."
Anyone with information is urged to phone Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
A woman has been woken by an armed intruder who slashed her head, face, arms and legs with a blade in her western Sydney home.
The 49-year-old woman was sleeping in her house on Byron Road, Guildford, about 12.30am today, when she was woken by the intruder, believed to be a man, as he started attacking her, police said.
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She screamed and struggled with the man, who cut her several times all over her body, police said. Advertisement
The intruder ran from the house, before she called police and went to her neighbour for help.
The woman was taken to Westmead Hospital, where she will have surgery later today.
She is in a stable condition, police said.
Investigators are asking anyone with information to phone Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
78 year old man critical after home invasion by police reporter Sean Rubinsztein-Dunlop
Updated 1 hour 56 minutes ago Map: Moorebank 2170
A robber is on the run after a tangle with an elderly Sydney man left the victim fighting for his life. A 78-year-old man and his wife walked in on the intruder when they came home at Moorebank, in Sydney's south-west just after midday yesterday.
The woman left the room to call triple-0.
When she came back, her husband was bleeding heavily on the floor and the intruder ran off.
Inspector Greg Tetley says police do not know how he was attacked.
"It's terrible that the man's ended up in a critical condition," he said.
"We'd remind people that if they find any people breaking into their property, just to call the police and leave it up to us who are trained and got the equipment to deal with those persons."
The woman has told police the attacker was skinny and in his 50s, and wearing a white T-shirt and jeans.
Commander Ray King says police want to hear from anyone who saw him run off down busy Newbridge Road.
"He was running towards Nuwarra Road, towards Liverpool, where there's a Red Rooster restaurant and also a number of service stations," he said.
"I would believe people would have seen this man running at that time, it was heavy rain, he wasn't carrying an umbrella, he would have stood out and at the time there's a lot of traffic on the road."
The victim remains unconscious in Liverpool Hospital.
"We'd remind people that if they find any people breaking into their property, just to call the police and leave it up to us who are trained and got the equipment to deal with those persons."
When you find people breaking in, just ignore them and call us to keep you safe.
Police hunt a man who slashed a 72-year-old woman across the face during a home invasion at Manly on Brisbane's bayside Saturday night.
A 72-year-old volunteer required 40 stitches after an intruder slashed her face from cheek-to-cheek with a knife in a brutal attack at the weekend.
The woman heard a noise in her home on Oceana Terrace in Manly, on Brisbane's bayside, about 8.30pm on Saturday and believing it was her unwell husband she walked towards their bedroom.
But she was confronted in the hallway by a stranger armed with a knife.
In what police have described as an "extremely cowardly act", the intruder pulled his knife, abused the elderly woman and then slashed her face, across her mouth, leaving her screaming for help.
No neighbours heard the woman's cries for help, as they were drowned out by fireworks from the nearby Halloween street party.
Detective Senior Sergeant Sean Dugger said the intruder had been in the house for only several minutes before being disturbed.
By the time the woman's husband got out of bed, the intruder had escaped empty handed through a window.
The victim has lived on Brisbane's bayside her entire life.
"She's a pillar of the community, does community work with Meals on Wheels, [and that] makes the offence all the more shocking," Senior Sergeant Dugger said.
"These sort of offences are very concerning."
The elderly woman was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital where she received 40 stitches to her face.
It was the second attack on older Brisbane residents in as many days.
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