An 87-year-old retired teacher has revealed how she fought off a home invader — then fed him snacks in her kitchen before calling police last week, according to local reports.
Marjorie Perkins from Maine, USA was asleep in bed in her Brunswick home when she was awoken at 2 a.m. to the terrifying sight of a person looking at her.
“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.
The elder, who lives alone, said she quickly got out of bed and put on shoes to be 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 Times Record.
The invader who was a teenager, pushed Perkins against the wall and began hitting her, she said — but she struck him back.
She reached for a nearby chair to use as a shield and hit him with it repeatedly as she screamed for help.
“He kept punching me and pushing me,” Perkins told the Times Record, adding she suffered a bruise to her forehead from a blow.
After all the fighting, the tired teenager
walked into the kitchen despite Perkins’ demands that he leave her home.
“He said he was awfully hungry and hadn’t had anything to eat for quite a while,” she told the newspaper. “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 snacked in her kitchen, Perskins then dialed 911 on her rotary phone “as fast as [she] could,” she said.
The teenager left before police arrived, but a police dog was able to track him down a few blocks away, where he was staying.
He was arrested and charged with burglary, criminal threatening, assault and consuming liquor as a minor, the Times Record reported. Perkins said he had a water bottle filled with alcohol with him when he broke into her home.
The teen, whose name and age have not been released, is being held at the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland.
Perkins said she actually recognized her alleged attacker as a boy who used to mow her lawn many years ago and believed he was about 17 years old now, according to the local publication.
“He did a darn good job,” she said. “I hope he gets help.”
The former elementary school teacher and line dancing instructor said she believes the boy got into her home by pushing aside a screen next to her window-unit AC and climbing through the open space.
The grandma says she was glad she didn’t let fear overpower her and stop her from defending herself.
“Don’t sit and cry about it… Be ready to kick and pick up a chair and hit somebody with it,” she said laughing.
