A 77-year-old woman was in a Honolulu hospital in satisfactory condition Friday, a day 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 patrol officers and arrested several blocks away in front of the Alexander Towers condominium on Alexander Street, police said.

The woman suffered injuries to her left forearm and right shoulder and was taken to a nearby hospital.

Mews has an extensive rap sheet that dates to 1985, according to state records. Most recently, Mews was found guilty in January of two counts of fourth-degree theft, petty misdemeanors for which he was sentenced to seven days in jail each. In December 2010, he was convicted of harassment, a petty misdemeanor for which he served eight days.

Before that, Mews was found guilty of a series of crimes that netted him up to five years in prison at a time. Among the most serious offenses were unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle, unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, promoting a dangerous drug, burglary and terroristic threatening, all felonies.