Two held in violent Amsterdam robbery that left 93-year-old woman with broken back

A 30-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy were arrested on Friday in connection with the violent robbery of a 93-year-old woman in Amsterdam, police report. As a result of the attack, she fractured her back last Tuesday on Comeniusstraat in Amsterdam Nieuw-West. The 30-year-old man remains in custody as of Monday, police report. The boy was released and allowed to return home after questioning.

The elderly woman was suddenly struck by a man shortly before 2 p.m. as she was making her way home. The suspect fled the scene with her black handbag while bystanders rushed to assist her and emergency services were alerted.

Witnesses reported that the suspect, described as a man approximately 40 years old with light skin and light brown hair, had possibly been lingering in the area around Comeniusstraat for some time that day. He was reportedly wearing a dark-colored winter coat and a large bag.

Her son told Hart van Nederland after the attack that the woman was in "unbearable pain.” “We can hardly comprehend that someone is capable of such a cowardly act.” He also said that his mother’s bag did not have anything of great value inside.

The police previously described the incident as “an incomprehensibly cowardly act with enormous consequences. A fractured back at this age means a long, difficult, and extremely arduous recovery process, if a full recovery is even possible at all.”