A 77-year-old woman was in a Honolulu hospital in satisfactory condition after fending off a would-be robber on a sidewalk in the McCully area near Central Union Church.

Meanwhile, her alleged attacker, a 45-year-old man with 29 prior convictions, was being held at the Honolulu Police Department cellblock unable to post $50,000 bail. Keith "Sonny" Mews is expected to appear in Honolulu District Court on Monday on a charge of second-degree robbery.

Police said a man approached the woman from behind on Pawaa Lane and tried to pull her handbag off her shoulder at 12:12 p.m. Thursday. The woman resisted, clenching firmly to her purse before she fell. The suspect fled on foot but was located by East Honolulu patrol officers and arrested several blocks away in front of the Alexander Towers condominium on Alexander Street, police said.