A Suffolk Park resident got a terrible shock very early this morning when two youths tried to break into her house.
The women said two young men, one in a black hoodie and one in a light grey hoodie, looked through the windows of the house and then attempted to open the front door.
‘I was already awake and heard noises out the front,’ she said. ‘They looked inside of my bedroom window – I sleep with blind open as we were broken into in Melbourne before moving here. I screamed and my german shepherd stepped in to protective mode.
‘They fled on foot out the front gate.’
A secure house
‘I sleep with my glass doors open and security sliding screen door locked so I can hear everything and keep my blind open for this reason!’
The woman, who was at home with her husband and daughter, said the burglars could see inside the house as the family still have their Christmas tree lights up. ‘It was enough for me to be able to see them.
‘I was already awake, unfortunately – I have PTSD from an aggravated burglary at our home in Melbourne which still haunts me. I wake every day at 3am or so, which is the time we were broken into the first time.
Asleep with children in the house
‘That time I was asleep with my two daughters in the house. I woke to them starting my car and it wasn’t until we reviewed all of our security camera footage we learned they had been on our property for 45 minutes, and in our home for 11 mins while we slept, before they took off in our car – that is the reason we moved here!’
The woman says on that occasion the burglars, who got caught five days later still in her car, were apprehended by a german shepherd K9 squad dog called ‘Zeus’, after they fled on foot and hid in an old lady’s backyard trying to hide from police.
After their Melbourne robbery, they also got a german shepherd called ‘Zara’, and it was she who scared away the would-be bandits in Brandon Street early this morning. ‘When I screamed she started to bark and went for the door.’
The woman, said she called the police Police called and they arrived within 10 minutes. They asked if anything was stolen or anyone hurt and said they would patrol the area.
Where to go to feel safe?
‘We’ve been here for nine months now and truly came here to heal and feel safe. My daughter was here this morning and has gone to work today as an early childhood educator, again traumatised and scared – she was in tears when she left.
‘She loves being a part of this community and seeing the kids she cares for at the beach and around town, but she this morning she said: “Now I don’t feel safe here either”.’
The women says she doesn’t have faith in the system unfortunately. ‘There isn’t much they could have done this time, but last time the criminals got let off with “trespassing” because they were all under 18.
‘Sick to my stomach’
‘I feel sick to my stomach. Violated once again! All of the “what ifs” come flooding back. What if I wasn’t awake? What if they got in? Will they come back better prepared?
‘It makes me angry that we are a target perhaps because we have nice cars. We have worked so hard for what we have and for that to make us a target is gut wrenching. We want to sell them and just hope that keeps us a little safer in the future.
‘It’s not about the cars they want to take, it’s about the privacy and security violation that’s taken in the process. The feeling of being unsafe in your own home and not being able to tell your children they’re safe at home.
‘Please evereyone lock up – lock your cars and tools, bikes and other valuables, but most importantly stay safe by locking doors. ‘This is a very scary and horrible feeling I don’t wish on anyone.’
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