Elderly man fighting for life after assault on early morning walk

Sat 11 Jul 2026 at 2:04pm

Sat 11 Jul 2026 at 2:04pm

In short:

A 74-year-old man is in a critical condition after being assaulted on his early morning walk at Yennora in Western Sydney.

Police believe the elderly man, who suffered serious head injuries, was attacked about 4:40am.

What's next?

Police are appealing for anyone who saw or heard anything this morning to contact detectives directly or through Crime Stoppers.

A elderly man has been left with critical head injuries in Western Sydney in what police believe was an assault in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Emergency services were called to Orchardleigh Street, Yennora about 4:40am after reports a man had suffered serious head injuries.

He was taken to Westmead Hospital where he remains in a critical but stable condition after surgery.

NSW Police said they had been unable to speak to the man, aged 74, and that he was found injured and unconscious on the side of the road by neighbours, in what "appeared to be a cowardly and callous attack".

Police have described him as a married father-of-three known for going on early morning walks in the area.

Acting Fairfield City Police Area Commander Brenton Sommerville said the man "appeared to be the victim of an assault".

"We'd ask for members of the community, anyone who has seen or heard anything … to contact police,"

he said.

"We're aware the man was performing his usual morning walk, which he does in the area.

"He had been out for a period of about 30 minutes prior to the incident."

'Peaceful man'

Neighbour John Sau said the elderly man was known for his routine walks.

"He's nice and quiet and do walking every morning, that's what I saw," Mr Sau said.

"Every morning when I sit here and I saw him walk, do walking exercise."

Another neighbour, Joshua Albrown, said the victim was "a peaceful man".

"The neighbour across the road; one guy, he punched him from the back; he's aged 75, can you imagine, 75?" he said.

"He's like, every day he about 4:30 or something he walk, like normal; sometime I wake up and do my exercises.

"He's a very peaceful man … and I'm still like wondering what's going on with him and why the guy punched him from the back."

A crime scene has been set up and police are appealing anyone with information or dashcam vision to contact police or Crime Stoppers.