Pensioner beaten up in his own garden by robber

A WIDOWED pensioner who walks with a Zimmer frame was attacked in his front garden by a thug who punched him to the ground then stole his jewellery.

George Comisky had just walked the few hundreds yards from an evening spent at his local Easter Road pub to his home when he was set upon by a man in his early 20s.

The 78-year-old, who is still recovering from a broken back and pelvis sustained last year, was punched in the face and fell with his Zimmer frame landing on top of him.

The thug tore a gold bracelet off Mr Comisky’s wrist before making off from Lady Menzies Place towards Rossie Place, leaving the retired security guard lying injured on his concrete patio.

Police today appealed for help in tracing the attacker, who struck at around 12.20am yesterday.

Mr Comisky said: “I’d been in Middletons for a drink and had just left to go home. I normally leave at about 8pm or 9pm, but I had stayed later because I got chatting. A friend offered to see me home but I said it would be fine. I was in my street when I saw a shadow behind me. I turned round to look and someone ducked back into a garden, but I could see their feet sticking out.

“I was at my front gate when this man came up behind me. He said, ‘I know what you’re up to, I’m going to do you’. I told him I didn’t know who he was but he kept saying he would hit me. I said, ‘If you want to hit an old man who’s nearly 79 years old then carry on’, and he said, ‘I’ll hit you all right’.

“I started shouting for help and that’s when he punched me and I fell back on to the ground. He pulled the bracelet off my wrist but left my rings. It was a bracelet I had bought on holiday in Australia.

“The Zimmer frame had fallen on top of me but I managed to get up and call the police. The officers thought my cheek might be broken so they called for an ambulance, but the paramedics said it was just badly swollen.”

Mr Comisky, whose wife June died aged 67 in 2002, suffered a broken back and pelvis in a fall on steps near his home in August last year. He had already been using a Zimmer frame for a number of years due to arthritis, as well as shortness of breath stemming from a bout of rheumatic fever when he was just 15.

Mr Comisky is a friend of Frank McGeachie, who was 83 when he was slashed with a knife during an assault and robbery on Easter Road in February 2009, leaving the pensioner with a six-inch wound to his face.

Mr Comisky, who worked as a security guard at the National Library of Scotland before retiring, added: “Despite what happened to Frank and me, it’s not going to stop me going out.

“There’s lot of druggies in this area and I think whoever did this probably followed me home. I just hope they catch him before he does the same to someone else.” The suspect is described as white, in his early 20s, 6ft tall with a slim build and a pale, clean-shaven complexion. He was wearing a dark anorak with the hood up, black trousers and black shoes/trainers and spoke with a local accent.

A police spokesman said: “The victim suffered a painful injury to his face but did not require medical attention.

“Nevertheless, this was an upsetting ordeal, which saw him robbed of his jewellery.”

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