A good samaritan family who were robbed while preparing meals for an old age home, have vowed not to let crime stop their work. Fekrey Baderoon, 57, who heads the Helping Hands Association, his wife, Nisa, and their two daughters were held up by five armed robbers at their Rosemere Road home last week. Nisa was accosted and slapped by one of the robbers. Baderoon said they had been preparing meals to deliver to old age homes in the city the following day, when they were attacked. Baderoon had decided to take a break and go to the shop with his daughter, Laila, 28. Moments after getting into the car, Baderoon heard a tap on the driver’s side window. When he looked up, he saw a man with a gun. He said the man asked for Laila’s purse, their cellphones and house keys. The robber then pulled them out of the car and ordered them to lie on the ground. Nisa, who heard the commotion, went to the front door to investigate. By this time, the robber had already unlocked the door. “Nisa was startled to see him standing at the door. She noticed he had my daughter’s purse under his arm,” he said. “She pushed the door shut. But he kicked it open and Nisa fell to the ground.” Baderoon said the angry robber slapped his wife across her face. “I just had to stand back and watch. I feared for my family’s life. “I could not retaliate. I did not know how many of them were in the house.” When Baderoon’s second daughter, Nadia, heard her mother scream, she ran into the bedroom and pressed the alarm panic button. “Another suspect ran to the room and grabbed her. Seconds later a third suspect arrived and began removing the appliances from the lounge.” He said the robbers demanded cash and jewellery and warned them not to look at their faces. “They took what they could from the bedroom and put it into a pillow case.” He said a fourth suspect then appeared and told his accomplices that their time was up. The suspects loaded several electronic appliances into Baderoon’s Opel Corsa before driving off. A fifth suspect, armed with a rifle, had kept watch on the road. He said the suspects had gained entry to his property by removing the gate hinges. But this ordeal did not deter the Baderoon family from helping those they usually do. The next day they fed more than 200 people in the city. “We are determined to continue with our work. There are too many needy people who rely on us for a hot plate of food.” The family are receiving trauma counselling.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Jul 2013 13:09:58 +0000
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