Victim relives ordeal at hands of home invasion gang

FEARING for her life when confronted with a gang of home invaders, 61-year-old Val fled down the hallway in a frantic bid to escape — but tripped over the dog and hit the ground.

FEARING for her life, 61-year-old Val fled down the hallway in a frantic bid to escape home invaders — but tripped over the dog and hit the ground.

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Just seconds earlier she had pulled up the blind to let Reggie outside and could not believe what she saw looking back at her: a gang of 14 African youths dressed in black and armed with baseball bats.

Five minutes of terror would then begin.

“I thought I was going to die, I really thought I was going to die or be badly beaten,” she told the Sunday Herald Sun.

Val was looking after her nephew’s Hillside family home when the nightmare unfolded at 11.03pm on January 4.

“When you looked into their eyes all you could see was ­hatred,” she said.

“I went to run through the hallway and tripped over the dog and fell, the older of the boys came and picked me up by the scruff of my neck and threw me on the couch like a rag doll.

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Val was a victim of a home invasion when 12 African youths stormed a home she was minding. Picture: Andrew Tauber

He slapped me and split my lip.

“Then they dragged me into the front room and said, ‘Where’s the money, bitch?’”

Despite fearing for her life, Val picked up little Reggie and sat him on her lap.

“If you don’t stop him from making noises I’m going to beat him,” one of the heartless young thugs said.

“I did what I was told. I just sat on the couch looking down.”

In just five minutes the gang ransacked every room in the house, grabbing money, devices, car keys and even shoes.

Before jumping in their stolen getaway car at 11.08pm, one of the older boys in the gang filled Val with fear with his parting words.

“He said, ‘Don’t move or we’ll be back for you’,” Val recalled.

“I sat on the couch for what seemed like forever and then I ran out the front door and started knocking.

“Nobody would answer and that is the most frightening thing, when nobody wants to come out and help because they’re as frightened as you are.

“I kept ducking and hiding behind shrubbery because whenever I saw a car I thought they were coming back.”

The gang would go on to cause havoc in nearby suburbs, allegedly bashing two teenage boys for their phones before smashing their way into a Delahey home. Two days later, police arrested a 17-year-old boy in relation to the crime spree.

He was charged with two counts of home invasion, one count of armed robbery and one count of attempted armed robbery, and is expected to appear in the Children’s Court at a later date.

Val said she wanted the community to feel safe again.

“The court system is too soft, it needs to be improved,” she said of lenient sentences.

“Daniel Andrews sits behind his high-fence home with security while we all live in fear.

“If they do the crime, they need to do the time and be charged. It doesn’t matter if they’re only 14 — they’re terrifying people and ruining lives.”

Val has refused to let the horrific ordeal of 10 weeks ago consume her.

She has calming advice for others unfortunate enough who find themselves in a similar position: “It will get better.”

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