Police superintendent apologises after elderly man left to fend off home invaders alone

A senior police officer has apologised after an elderly man was left to fend for himself when police failed to attend his home for eight hours, despite three Triple Zero calls.

Peter, 81, heard a group trying to force their way into his Lalor home on Monday night.

He was forced to put a chair against his broken door after police failed to attend until Tuesday morning.

Police superintendent for the North-West metro region, Sean Woods, said he’s “really, really disappointed” with the police response.

“It has upset me that this has occurred,” he told Neil Mitchell.

“I actually take this really personally.”

Superintendent Woods said a “process breakdown” is to blame for police failing to attend Peter’s home at the time of the attempted home invasion.

“I think some assumptions were made about what was actually occurring at Peter’s house at the time and it’s just cascaded from there,” he said.

“We’ve stepped up patrols in the area so they can rest assured that they’ll see a lot more police around the area for the next few days.”

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Elderly man left to fend for himself as calls for help go unanswered