ABERDEEN NEWS — A family in Darling Street, Aberdeen, had a lucky escape in the early hours of last Friday morning when intruders wearing balaclavas threatened the householder with knives.
Allan Webster, his wife Monica and children were sleeping peacefully, with the house locked up for the night. At about 01:00, Monica got up to feed their five-month-old baby, who sleeps in their room, and then returned to bed.
Shortly after this, Allan was woken when he heard the bedroom door burst open. He started to get up, but then there were three men standing over him, shining bright cellphone torches in his face.
Two had long sharp knives, against his chest, and the third man held a pair of sheep shears against his throat. At this stage, he was fearing for his life, and for the safety of his family.
Monica then leapt out of bed and threw herself against the double doors leading out to the veranda. She managed to break the lock and ran screaming into the street.
The police were called and arrived within minutes.
It appears that the intruders first took washing from the line, broke into the house through the veranda window to the children's bedroom, even stepping on one of their beds - luckily, neither child woke.
They went through the house, opening cupboards and suitcases, and knocked over a vase which was standing on a glass coffee table. They then burst into the main bedroom, threatening Allan, but ran away when Monica started screaming, grabbing her handbag from a side table on the way out. Allan then also ran out into the street, but the men had gone, and none of the neighbours had seen or heard anything.
The family own two large dogs. One, a German shepherd, was sleeping in the lounge, and apparently slept through the attack. The other, a border collie, was initially missing, but later returned to the house. It is thought that this dog probably ran away through one of the open doors.
En route to the station later to open a case and give his statement, Allan found some of the children's clothing and one part of the sheep shears in the road.
The family would very much like the community to be on the lookout for the documents from Monica's handbag, which were still in her maiden name of T M Chaoane. Her driver's licence, ID book and bank cards were all in the bag, and most probably discarded by the suspects.
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