Blind woman beaten, raped in Mayfair

PHILADELPHIA POLICE were searching last night for the man they say beat and raped a blind woman inside her home in the Northeast yesterday.

The 50-year-old victim was walking toward the front door of her Torresdale Avenue home in the city's Mayfair section yesterday afternoon, police said, when the suspect approached her from behind.

The man then forced the woman, who lives alone, inside the home, where he beat and raped her.

Police did not know how long the attack lasted, but sent a SWAT team to the home near Cottman Avenue about 5 p.m. yesterday because the victim was unsure whether the man had left or barricaded himself inside.

Police were still searching for the suspect at 10 last night and did not have a description because officers had just been able to visit the victim at an unidentified hospital. The woman's home is across the street from the Russo Park Playground.

It was not clear whether the suspect was armed during the attack, police added. Several residents on the woman's block said that they saw police cars yesterday afternoon but did not know the woman.

WPVI-Channel 6 reported last night that the woman's home had apparently been ransacked and that police were investigating whether more than one attacker could have been involved. The station also reported that the victim was undergoing a CAT scan.

The department's Special Victims Unit is investigating the assault.