Terrified and in shock, a 77-year-old woman fought back as two robbers attacked her and tied her to a chair in her home last Friday.

She kicked, punched and scratched one of her assailants after they had tricked her into letting them into her house. They left after spending 45 minutes in the house and she managed to free herself.

“I didn’t panic. Actually at first I think I was very calm,” the woman, who preferred not to be named, told this newspaper yesterday.

“It was only when one of the thugs held me by my chin and shoved his fingers into my eyes that I became scared,” said the woman, who lives alone in her two-storey Ta’ l-Ibraġ home.

The two men, equipped with a toolbox, had knocked on the woman’s door at about 6pm. As she is refurbishing her house, she believed them when they told her they were workmen and did not think twice about letting them in.

On entering the house, the men, who she describes as slim and of average height, pushed her inside. One of them held her by the neck while the other rushed upstairs.

He was choking me. I did not want them to have the upper hand so I did my best to move away and when I did manage to move a few steps from them, I quickly sat down on

“He was choking me. I did not want them to have the upper hand so I did my best to move away and when I did manage to move a few steps from them, I quickly sat down on a chair.”

The man downstairs tied her arms to the chair with duct tape while the other went through her bedroom. “He even tried to put duct tape over my eyes but I resisted and managed to scratch him,” the woman said.

Throughout the ordeal, she added, she did her best to remain calm and be brave.

Only one of the men spoke to her, in Maltese, and she detected a foreign accent, possibly Italian or Arabic. The robbers did not utter a single word to one another. As the man upstairs rummaged through her things in the bedroom, the other was trying to keep her quiet.

“I tried to scream, even though I knew that with the front door closed, nobody could hear me.

That angered him and he kept pushing my head against the wall to shut me up,” she said, pointing to the bruises on her chin and neck which have now appeared.

In the bedroom, the man emptied a tin box which the elderly woman had used to store her sewing kit, perhaps believing he was going use it to carry any valuable objects, she said.

But it was all in vain – the woman does not keep any valuables in the house.

He even tried to put duct tape over my eyes but I resisted and managed to scratch him

“He only found three watches which I had bought from China and cost very little, and an old, broken watch which I kept in a tiny, green purse.”

Frustrated, the two men rushed back into the kitchen and fetched a dish cloth which was lying near the sink. They tied it around her neck, threatening to hurt her again.

“That is when I really became scared but mind you, I didn’t cry. I was shocked but I did my best to stay strong.”

Possibly hearing car noises, the men suddenly ran out of the house, leaving her tied to the chair.

She managed to free herself by tugging at her baggy jumper and freeing an arm and then removed enough pieces of duct tape to free her hands. She made her way to the kitchen to call for help.

“I was under tremendous shock and could not even dial the right numbers, but somehow I pulled myself together.

“I tried to call the police and a friend but it took me a while to get the numbers right. I thought they had damaged my phone.”

Later, she realised that she had been dialling the wrong numbers as her hands were shaking.

She believes the men spent about 45 minutes in her home. Bruised and still in shock, the woman insisted she was not afraid to stay at her house all alone, not even at night.

She urged those living alone to be very careful and to avoid opening their door when not sure who is on the other side. And she hopes her story will serve as a lesson to those who do not think twice before opening their front door to strangers.