“GIVE us your money and there’ll be no strife”.
Elderly pensioners Janice Downes and Harold Paech are thanking their lucky stars they are still alive after four men broke into their home and held them hostage while the place was ransacked.
Ms Downes visited The Argus on Wednesday to tell of the terrifying experience, which occurred late on Sunday afternoon.
Armed with large sticks, a 30cm long screwdriver, jagged rocks and wearing thick balaclavas and gloves, the four men rushed into the rural home at South Kempsey and proceeded to tear the place apart in search of cash, jewellery and other small items with a high resaleable value.
“We saw them coming across the grass and my initial thought was ‘my God, they’re making a movie’,” Ms Downes said.
“They were screaming and holding their weapons high above their heads.”
The men forced their way into the house before Janice or Harold could react and immediately severed all phone lines and confiscated the pair’s mobile phones.
One of the men told the pair to sit on the couch and stood over them holding a large stick.
He demanded they give him their money while the remaining three assailants tore apart the house.
“We never saw their eyes,” Ms Downes said.
“No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t glimpse a single face.”
“They galloped from room to room, emptying the wardrobes and pulling the drawers out and upending them on the floor,” Ms Downes said.
“(They stole) precious jewellery with irreplaceable personal value, cameras, watches and personal papers.
“The mess all through the home was really heartbreaking.”
Eventually the assailants found a safe Harold had been given as a present some years ago.
“When they found the safe they went berserk, using a hoe and the sticks trying to get it open,” Ms Downes said.
It gave the quick-thinking Ms Downes the opportunity she needed to frighten off the attackers.
“One of them went out to the garage and came back and said ‘there are three cars out there, we’ve got to take one’,” she said.
“When they found the safe I used the opportunity to slip the car keys from the table into my pocket.”
Ms Downes got up from her seat and told the attackers she could see her son driving down the road.
She then fell back onto the floor, clutching at her chest as if having a heart attack.
“I told them that my son was due at four then screamed pains, like it was a heart attack,” she said.
“The youth left guarding us was put on edge and told the others ‘hurry up, let’s hit the track’.”
The four men then fled on foot.
Ms Downes said she and Mr Paech were thankful they had survived unscathed.
“When they stormed in through the door you had the feeling you were about to die,” she said.
“It could have been a lot worse. They’d only have to hit us once …”
It was the second such brazen attack in the area in two days.
On Saturday their next door neighbour arrived home to find his property being burgled.
He was able to frighten off the assailants, but not before they had smashed two windows and stolen his vehicle.
Ms Downes said the attack on their neighbour had put the pair on edge, but they still had not expected the violent assault that followed.
The pair spent Monday at Kempsey Police Station providing officers with a statement about the break-in.
On Tuesday night they sat down for a dinner with their neighbours.
“We had roast pork and a good bottle of red and celebrated that we were still alive,” Ms Downes said.
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter