Albany grandmother and her pet dog set upon at home in terrifying attack

An Albany grandmother says she could feel hair being ripped from her scalp during a terrifying attack inside her home that quickly escalated from bizarre to violent. Heather Rowe, 76, has described being chased along her street with blood streaming down her face and chunks of hair missing before she took refuge in neighbour Shane Cliffe’s home. About 5.30pm last Friday, the 76-year-old said she was enjoying the evening on her front patio when her alleged attacker — a 44-year-old Mira Mar woman — took a seat next to her after rushing into the Spencer Park home. She said the woman — whose family Ms Rowe has known for decades — asked her if her son or grandson were around the home at the time. “She walked straight in, sat down, started pulling faces and said ‘do you love me, do you love me, do you miss me?’,” Ms Rowe said. “Then she said ‘do you think I’m fat?’ She pulled up her shirt and showed me her body.” Ms Rowe said the alleged attacker started asking questions about her relationship with the 44-year-old’s family before launching her attack. “I think she realised I was going to go outside, next thing she’s grabbed my hair, pulled me down and tried to pull me inside (my front door),” Ms Rowe said. “I had to start screaming, I couldn’t see anyone, I knew there were no neighbours around. “I thought ‘if she gets me inside, she’s going to kill me’. I thought I was going to die.” Ms Rowe said after about five minutes of being attacked on the ground, she was able to break free and run down the street. In a disturbing twist, Ms Rowe said she could see the alleged attacker pinning down her howling five-year-old dog Nemo as she looked back towards her home. “I thought ‘If I run back, she’s got me, she’ll kill me’,” she said. Two doors down, Mr Cliffe was home. He said he knew the alleged attacker from school. “I was just on my way out with my pushbike, I heard Heather at the door screaming, then I noticed there was blood all over her nose and face,” Mr Cliffe said. “I noticed there was a person right behind her. I let her in straight away and told her to get behind me.” While standing between the two, Mr Cliffe said the younger woman was hurling what she could find at his fly-screen door. “She was trying to get inside to Heather,” he said. Ms Rowe was taken to hospital that night. She said her eyesight was still blurry. Ms Rowe’s son Duane has been staying with his mother since the attack, which left her with cuts around her left eye and nose. “Now I’m always going to be looking over my shoulder,” Ms Rowe said. “I don’t want to be living in fear for the rest of my life.” Police arrested a 44-year-old woman on Friday night. She was conditionally released on police bail and is due to face the Albany Magistrate’s Court later this month on charges of aggravated common assault and animal cruelty.