A nine-year-old Indian origin boy was threatened with an axe during an armed raid on his home in Birmingham.
Property developer Rajinder Auluk, 40, spoke of the terrifying moment when the gang burst into their home in Great
Barr, in the West Midlands, on Monday evening and demanded cash and car keys.
West Midlands Police have launched an appeal to help catch the violent robbers, who were also carrying crowbars.
Aulukh says his son, who does not want to be named, was so badly affected by the attack that he no longer wants to live in the house as he fears the robbers will return to kill him.
I heard a loud crash at the front door and suddenly an explosion hit me in the face as these men with axes and
sledgehammers came piling through the door.
I said, ‘take what you want’ but they carried on shouting and held an axe to my youngest’s neck. So I decided to take a leap between my son and the guy holding him.
I managed to get my son free but took a little hit on my chest,” said the father of two, who suffered a three-inch gash to his chest in the scuffle.
It was true panic. I was angry and frightened, but my main concern was what they were going to do to the little guy.
I just thought if that axe accidentally slips or moves it could cut my son’s jugular vein. I just want these men caught, before they do it to someone else,” added Aulukh, who was with his wife Baljit, 45, and their older son Jay, 16, at their Newton Road home during the robbery.
Jay had grabbed a knife from the kitchen and was charged at by two men before they fled from the house.
The robbers tried to get away in two family cars, a Nissan Pulsar GTR and a Mercedes CLK, but abandoned the latter on the road outside the home, police said.
Detective Constable Derek Cole, who is leading the inquiry, added: “This was a truly horrendous ordeal for the
family and it’s hard to imagine what they went through on Monday night.
The thieves knew exactly what they were after; they wanted the family’s high performance car and didn’t care who
they harmed in the process”.
His team has been carrying out house-to-house inquiries and trawling CCTV footage.
Superintendent Sharon Goosen, from Sandwell Police, sought to reassure local residents: “Thankfully robberies as violent as this are extremely rare but I don’t underestimate the impact that this incident will have on the victims and the wider community… we work tirelessly to ensure the people responsible are caught and brought to justice”.
——————–PTI