The Tribune

AN Eastern Road family, who felt so secure in the location of their off-the-beaten track home in New Providence in which they had lived for two generations, learned a hard lesson on Thursday for going about their daily routine without taking safety precautions.

“We had a false sense of security,” said the homeowner, who did not want to be named.

On Thursday morning that “sense of security” was shattered when armed police spread out across the family’s property in search of a man who had opened the unlocked kitchen door, walked in and attacked the owner’s elderly mother-in-law.

It was about 9.30am, shortly after “we had just put out the empty five gallon water bottles for Chelsea to pick up and had walked back into the house, closing the kitchen door, but not locking it,” the businessman said. “My mother-in-law was walking to the bedroom with her back to the kitchen door, when an intruder opened the door, grabbed her from behind and put his hand over her mouth. She pulled his hand away and screamed and screamed.

“My 84-year-old mother hears the screams, gets up and walks towards the kitchen. The intruder sees my mother coming, pushes my mother-in-law to the ground and runs out of the door. The police came rapidly - five police cars, and a minimum of 10 police officers - they went north south, east west searching our garden. They did not find him.”

The businessman was not certain of the age of the intruder. He said his mother-in-law, who is in her sixties, had her back to her attacker and so never saw him. However his mother believed he was “a young person”.

The resident told his story to advise other Eastern Road residents not to relax their guard and to secure their homes.