Five children fight back after armed intruder shoots their mother

FIVE children tell the story of how they saved their mother’s life after fighting back against an intruder who shot her.

FIVE brothers and sisters are being hailed as heroes after fighting back against an intruder who shot their mother in their Queensland home.

The siblings told the story of the horrifying attack and how they managed to save their mother’s life in a 60 Minutes report on Channel 9.

The three brothers and two sisters were getting ready for bed at their Chambers Flat home when their mother Rachael Moore heard a car pull up in the driveway.

As soon as she heard the vehicle she knew it was probably her former partner Daryl Fields, 39.

“He had left a number of messages (on her phone) that evening ... so when a car screeched into the driveway, she sensed it was him, and that something was going to happen, that’s why she got the children into the room,” 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown told news.com.au.

The couple had separated two years earlier after he had been violent towards her, but things had been fairly amicable up to that point.

Something snapped in him that night, and fuelled by alcohol, Fields stormed into the home and broke down the bedroom door where the family were gathered. He stood there and pointed a shotgun at Moore.

“All the kids were screaming, ‘don’t shoot, don’t shoot’, but he did,” Brown said.

The children watched their mother fall backwards, unconscious.

Then Fields started reloading the shot gun.

The children of Rachael Moore have told 60 Minutes about how they protected their mother.

Cameron is just 12 years old but he ran at his father, and somehow managed to grab the shotgun and run out of the room with it.

“I ran forward and elbowed him,” the young boy told 60 Minutes.

Cameron grabbed the gun from his father.

Fields started dragging the children’s mother by the leg and then tried to gouge her eyes out but 14-year-old Jayden protected her.

“I just hopped on his back and started choking him,” Jayden said.

When Cameron returned to the room, he punched Fields in the temple, causing him to fall back. Jayden held on and kept his father in a chokehold until he passed out.

Meanwhile little sister Kaylea, 10, grabbed her mother and got her out of the room, hiding her under a bush outside.

Jayden hopped on his father’s back.

Even little Zane, 4, had the presence of mind to grab his little sister Samantha, 2, and hide under a bed. Then there was an anxious wait for police to arrive.

“Jayden was making sure mum was safe, Kaylea was holding a bandage on her mum’s arm and Cameron was running up and down the driveway, to find the police and direct them to his mum,” Brown said.

During this time, thankfully, their father didn’t attack again.

“The gun had been taken away, he was disarmed and disempowered, they said he seemed to go into a daze ... he was very heavily affected by alcohol,” Brown said.

“He was knocked out for a certain period of time ... the fight was knocked out of him effectively.”

Brown said that the children’s 38-year-old mother only remembers moments of what happened.

“She remembers very clearly being shot and the children trying to stop their father from gouging her eyes out. She remembers their little hands on her.”

So grateful: Mother Rachael Moore.

“She remembers worrying about the children, and then once the police and ambulance arrived, the pain.”

Moore was taken to hospital where she was told that she would probably lose her arm and that it needed to be amputated.

But she wanted to fight to keep it. Brown said she nearly died numerous times during surgery, she lost a lot of blood and spent weeks in hospital afterwards undergoing numerous follow-up operations.

“She’s on pain relief and is seeing a physiotherapist, she’s working hard to regain the use of her arm,” the reporter said.

Rachael Moore takes #60Mins to the house where she would have died, if not for the bravery of her five children. https://t.co/8Yu6fCObUj

— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) September 27, 2015

Her former partner is due to be sentenced next month for attempted murder, after he pleaded guilty to the charges.

Brown said that Moore was incredibly proud of her children’s actions, and also incredibly grateful.

She had wanted the children to leave the room because she was worried about them being hurt.

“But now she is incredibly grateful they were there because they saved her life.”

Incredibly, the children had learnt the technique of how to disarm and put someone in a chokehold during a recent acting class.

“They put to use what they learned,” Brown said.

The reporter said the children felt empowered by their own bravery and courage but what was keeping them together emotionally was knowing that their mum was alive and they had a hand in that.

“They are proud of themselves, but they are not thinking about it in terms of saving their mum’s life, but that she’s alive and they kept the family together. They feel very strong in that sense,’ Brown said.

“They got to see inside their hearts that night and were driven very much by love for their mum.”

Rachael Moore is embraced by her children.

Brown said she was grateful for the courage the family had shown in being interviewed for the story and highlighting the problem of domestic violence in general.

“As extraordinary as this story is, this horrific story could be experienced by other families,” she said.

If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence, contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).