An 88-year-old woman is recovering after she was violently robbed just steps from her home in Queensborough on the Family Day long weekend.
The incident has renewed concerns about distraction thefts targeting seniors across the Lower Mainland.
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Gurdev Sadhre was attacked Sunday afternoon on Dan Lee Avenue near Suzuki Street.
Her son, Sukhi Sadhre, told OMNI News that his mother was walking home when a man in a car began following her.
The suspect allegedly tried to lure her toward the vehicle. When she refused and continued walking, he stopped and approached her and forcibly ripped the bangles from her wrist.
The jewellery was torn off so forcefully that it ripped her skin. She required 10 stitches on her hand.
A video of the incident captured on CCTV has since circulated widely on social media.
The Sadhre family has lived in the quiet Queensborough neighbourhood since 1999. Sukhi Sadhre said the attack has left the family shaken.
“We’ve never experienced anything like this — not on our street, not in this community,” he said, adding that the incident has especially affected the children in the family.
According to a statement from the New Westminster Police Department, officers were called to the area at approximately 1:45 p.m. on Feb. 15 after a good Samaritan reported an elderly woman in distress.
Police say the victim told them a stranger approached her, pulled jewellery from her arm, causing injury, and pushed her to the ground.
“Watching the CCTV footage was deeply disturbing,” said Sgt. Andrew Leaver. “A grown man used his strength and size against a 90-year-old woman. That is disgraceful and cowardly behaviour.”
The suspect is described as approximately 5’11”, heavy-set, about 260 pounds, wearing a beige hoodie, grey pants, black shoes with white soles, and a surgical mask.
New Westminster City Councillor Paul Minhas called the attack “horrific and unacceptable,” saying it has shaken the community.
The incident comes amid a string of distraction thefts targeting seniors across the Lower Mainland.
Police in Surrey say multiple cases in January involved seniors being approached outside places of worship.
On Jan. 26, three suspects — one man and two women — allegedly distracted a victim in the parking lot of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara on 120th Street before stealing jewellery.
An attempted theft was reported Jan. 29 at Dashmesh Darbar Gurdwara.
Two additional incidents were reported Jan. 31 near 84th Avenue and 141st Street, and near 64th Avenue and 124th Street. In one case, a woman allegedly tried to grab a man’s bracelet after he refused to give her money.
Queensborough is located just blocks away from Gurdwara Sukh Sagar.
Surrey resident Harwinder Singh Rai said his mother — who is in her 70s — also had a suspicious encounter outside Dasmesh Darbar Gurdwara in late January. He said a Toyota SUV approached her and attempted to lure her toward the vehicle.
Moninder Singh, spokesperson for the B.C. Gurdwaras Council and Dashmesh Darbar Gurdwara says that the pattern of incidents should not be treated as isolated crimes.
“We have to see this as a major crisis unfolding in Surrey,” he said. “Seniors are being targeted in and around places they consider safe — their neighbourhoods, their places of worship. That deeply unsettles the entire community.”
He said while police appear to be responding, broader public safety pressures — including violent crimes such as extortion — are stretching resources across the Lower Mainland.
Singh called for coordinated action between municipal police, provincial authorities, and the federal government to address what he described as a wider criminal network operating in the region.
Police say investigations into the incidents are ongoing. Officers are urging seniors to remain aware of their surroundings, avoid walking alone when possible, and refrain from wearing visible expensive jewellery in public.
