Zailn Jahson Hayward jailed for breaking into elderly woman’s Balga home while naked

A man who broke into his elderly neighbour’s Balga home to steal money while “stark naked” before pinning her down and punching her several times was out on bail for numerous offences at the time of the attack. Details of Zailn Jahson Hayward’s criminal history were revealed as he was jailed for 3½ years over the May 2020 assault that left his 81-year-old victim bruised and terrified. During the hearing, the court was told the 23-year-old had been drinking when he decided to wander across the road naked around 11.30pm to what he claimed he thought was an empty house. He broke in via the toilet window but as he pulled himself through, he managed to cut himself leaving not only his blood but his fingerprints. His elderly neighbour was sleeping in her bedroom while her 84-year-old husband — who is deaf and blind — was asleep in another room. The court was told Hayward, who weighed around 110kg at the time, “stumbled” around the house before making his way into the woman’s room where he then pounced on her. Terrified, she screamed several times and Hayward then punched her twice in the shoulder. Hayward then walked into the kitchen, with the court told the elderly woman then chased and shouted after him as he left the house. He was arrested by police the following day with the court told he asked officers to apologise to his neighbour. His lawyer Ashley Watson told the court his client could not explain why he was naked when he broke into the home but conceded it was “odd behaviour”. He also said his client agreed he had issues that needed to be addressed, revealing Hayward had a “pattern of obscene acts in public”. The court was told the 23-year-old had been convicted for exposing himself to several women on separate occasions in 2018 and 2019. The court was also told Hayward had a seven-page criminal history. Judge Troy Sweeney described Hawyard’s offending as not only “unsophisticated” but “particularly foolish” because of how close he lived to his victim. She also said the attack was serious explaining his elderly neighbour must have been “really frightened” to find a stranger in her room who then pinned her down. “I don’t have any doubt it would have affected her psychologically or has left her with some degree of anxiety,” she added. However Judge Troy also accepted Hayward must be suffering from some sort of “psychological difficulty” given his prior offending. But she said it was clear that offending had escalated and that the community was at risk from him. Taking into account his youth, “immaturity” as well as his genuine remorse, she jailed Hayward for three years and six months and backdated his sentence to his arrest on May 11, 2020. She also made him eligible parole meaning he could be released in a few months.