A dad says "panicked screams" woke him up during the night as four men in masks took his daughters hostage and threatened to kill his son, before they drove off in his motor. Mohammed Ali, 39, says his "family is broken" after the gang broke into his Oldham home with machetes, a meat cleaver and a brick on Tuesday, May 9, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Now, police have launched a probe into the shocking incident and are urging anyone with information to come forward. Mohammed first spotted two of the robbers on the stairs of his home and says another of them held a knife against the throats of his daughters, aged seven and 12, as they cowered in the living room.
His son came out of his upstairs bedroom seconds later, and one of the men shouted "kill him, kill him" before charging towards the 18-year-old. Mohammed pushed the lad back into his bedroom and ran towards the bathroom, where they took refuge while the robbers hacked at the doors with their machetes.
After five minutes, the brutes finally fled but stole his white Seat Leon car from the driveway when they found Mohammed's keys. Now the dad says he feels like he’d "failed" his family.
He said: “My daughter said one of them had a knife and he was saying, ‘It’s all your dad’s fault, be f***ing quiet,’ and was putting a knife to her neck. They all had gloves and everything, but you could see their eyes through the balaclava - and their voice, I could never forget it.
“I’ve not slept since. My family is broken. My kids wouldn’t come home. It was my daughter’s birthday yesterday, and literally everything is spoiled and I don’t know what to do or what to say to them. I feel like I’ve failed them.”
On the night of the attack Mohammed went to his bed at 9.30 pm and left his youngest son, who is five, and two daughters watching the TV. His wife Michelle Dunkley, 40, was working but had forgotten her keys so he’d unlocked the door before heading upstairs.
An hour and a half later, at 11 pm, he heard one of his daughters let out a high-pitched scream, and when he went to check on the children he dicovered two masked men on the stairs holding metre-long machetes.
He said: “It wasn’t a scream where the kids were fighting. This was a panicked scream, a worried scream. I knew as a parent this was not normal. As I was trying to get down the stairs, I was faced by three guys in balaclavas. Two were on the stairs, one at the bottom, and one had my kids downstairs.
“I started screaming: “Get out! Get out!”. They started swearing at me. My son had the room next to the stairs, and when he came out, they said: 'Kill him! kill him!'
“I pushed him into his room and closed the door, and they started coming up the stairs. I went to the bathroom, which was right behind me. I was just screaming, 'make sure they don’t get to you'. They started hacking at the doors with the machetes, and while they were hacking it, the third guy was ransacking my house.”
Mohammed says he endured a terrifying five minutes holding the door shut, before he finally realised they had made their way downthe stairs. Then he heard his car engine starting and realised the crooks were stealing his car.
He added: “I was still half asleep. I was dazed and in a panic and I didn’t know if they’d got my son or my other kids downstairs. Once my car started and they were driving off, I gave chase then went inside and saw my kids were alright.”
The children were unharmed despite their trauma, and besides his vehicle, the men only took a box of his daughter's miniature dolls. However after he shared footage of the incident on social media, he said another family nearby reported the same gang had attacked them just an hour later.
The disturbed dad says that despite reporting the attack to Greater Manchester Police he doesn't think they are taking him seriously. He said: “It’s absolutely disgraceful. I left it with the police. But it’s like they’re not bothered. They will only take action when someone is seriously hurt or dead but I don’t want that on my conscious.”
GMP says its officers responded to reports of an aggravated burglary on Fir Tree Avenue, Oldham, last Tuesday night and the force is urging any witnesses to come forward.
Detective Inspector Andrew Fink, of GMP's Oldham Division, said: "This was a shocking incident in which a family were threatened in their own homes. We have zero tolerance for these sort of shocking acts and we are determined to bring those responsible for this crime to justice.
"Our officers are working hard to establish all of the leads available to them, and any information that the public may have would be of great assistance to their enquiries. I would urge anyone with CCTV, dashcam, or doorbell footage to please get in touch. No matter how small you think it is, it could be hugely beneficial.”
Anyone with any information is asked to contact police on 0161 856 8962 quoting log number 4272 of May 9, 2023. Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
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