A 90-year-old woman claims she was pelted with rotten apples during a bizarre break-and-enter last weekend, causing damage to her home but leaving her unharmed.
Laura David said she was in the kitchen of her Chesterville, Ont. home around 7 p.m. when someone snuck inside and began throwing around rotten apples, which she’d collected from her lawn and kept in a box outside.
“There are so many places you can hide, so they started throwing apples at me and then they’d hide so I wouldn’t see them,” David told CTV Ottawa. “This kept up for some time and eventually they gave up, but the place was covered with apples.”
David was not injured in the alleged attack. She did not call 911 on Saturday night but told a family member of the incident the following day.
“I can’t believe that anybody would do this, let alone to a 90-year-old. One of those apples could’ve killed her,” said her niece, Julia Lovell.
Signs of the mess were still apparent on Thursday. David’s carpet appeared stained and pieces of apple were caked to a doorframe.
Police said they received a call from one of David’s relatives and opened an investigation into the matter earlier this week.
“What we came to learn is a person or persons forcibly entered into the home, and there was some apples -- some rotten that were outside in a box -- and they proceeded to throw them all over the kitchen, causing a mess, vandalizing and actually even breaking some things,” OPP spokesperson Const. Joel Doiron told CTV News Channel on Thursday.
“So at this point in time we are conducting an investigation into those responsible for this unacceptable act.”
Police have not identified any suspects or released descriptions of those involved. It’s unclear if anything was stolen from the house.
A clothing store that David owns in Chesterville was also allegedly broken into less than 24 hours before the home invasion. David said she believes the two incidents may be related, and police said they’re looking into the possibility.
“I’d like to know who this person might be. They certainly had a lot of nerve, and he should be taken care of,” David said.
On a happier note, David’s home was cleaned up by a group of church volunteers shortly after the incident.
With a report from CTV Ottawa
