Yahoo News Raiders in balaclavas threaten boy, 10, with 'screwdriver' at east London home
Masked men threatened a couple’s 10-year-old son with a screwdriver and hit his 14-year-old sister on the head with a broom in a terrifying raid at the family home.
The parents said their son and 14-year-old daughter were “screaming” in fear after a group of up to four men burst into the property in east London.
The father, who did not want to be named, was at work at time, but his wife was in the house and the children were watching television downstairs.
He told the Evening Standard: “They were wearing balaclavas and chased my daughter around the room and hit her on the head with a broom stick. My son was threatened with what he thought was a screwdriver.
“The children continued to shout and scream and then my wife came running down the stairs. The men ran out of the back.”
The mother said she heard her daughter cry for help as the incident unfolded in Torquay Gardens, Ilford, on Wednesday evening. “I was really scared,” she said. “I heard the children screaming, and then my daughter said, ‘Mum they hit me, mum they hit me.’ I quickly took them out because I knew the men were still inside in the kitchen or the garden, so the first thing that came into my mind was leave the house.”
"I don’t think children should go through that. It’s quite poor of criminals to look to attack children"
Father of 10-year-old victim
She said she believed the men fled the scene without stealing anything because they realised the children were not alone in the house.
The father added: “The emergency services came as soon as they could and within a minute the neighbours all came round to help. We’ve got a really strong neighbourhood watch scheme and we’re so thankful to them.”
The couple have since installed an alarm. Their teenage daughter has recovered from the ordeal but their son is still “shaken”. The father said: “I don’t think children should go through that, especially in their own home. I think it’s quite poor of criminals to look to attack children.”
A Met Police spokesman said the burglars are thought to have fled the scene in a white Fiat Tipo. There have been no arrests.
Anyone with information should call police on 101 quoting ref 6796/7 Nov.
