A traumatised mother has spoken out after her four-month-old baby was allegedly held at gunpoint during a terrifying home invasion on the NSW Central Coast.
Two men from south-west Sydney, Mohammad Al Tamimi and Ali Danesh, have been charged over the alleged robbery, which took place in Mannering Park at about 1.10am on July 25, while three other suspects are still on the run.
Four balaclava-clad men allegedly broke into the home, held a gun to the baby’s head, dragged the mother by her hair and threatened her with a knife, bashed the father, and fled after 20 minutes with $500 cash, jewellery, a mobile phone and the family’s 4WD.
The mother, using the pseudonym Michelle, told The Sunday Telegraph she was afraid that if she made one wrong move the gunman might shoot the baby, but eventually put her life on the line for her child.
“I couldn’t stop staring at him,” she said.
“I had to be careful with even the smallest move I made. Anything could have set him off.
“The only thing I could think to do was put my body between the gun and my baby.”
She said she then managed to lead the gunman away from the bassinet to a cupboard where some money was kept.
Michelle said she and her husband were innocent victims with no gangland links, but feared they were going to be murdered during the alleged home invasion.
“I was shocked we survived,” she said.
“We’re two parents with kids full-time – we’re the furthest thing from any crime.”
She managed to call Triple-Zero at one point during the chaos, resulting in the men fleeing in a waiting stolen black BMW getaway car with cloned plates and the family’s vehicle before police arrived, and was relieved to discover that her other two children had somehow slept through the whole alleged incident.
Al Tamimi and Danesh were arrested outside a carwash in Minto on September 3, and were both charged with break and enter to commit a serious indictable offence and participating in a criminal group.
Danesh faced Campbelltown Local Court on September 11 and did not apply for bail, while Al Tamimi appeared in the same court last Wednesday.
Neither have entered pleas.
Header image: One of the alleged attackers getting into the BMW (supplied).
