A family will be sleeping uneasily - if at all - tonight after their home was invaded by an armed robber. It happened last night on Santa Barbara Street while a couple and their teenage son were at home inside their unfenced yard.
An easy target for a young man whom the family believes has been monitoring them for some time. And while there were no major injuries, the family's sense of security in their own home is shattered. Courtney Menzies spoke with them, and has this story.
The Leslie's were enjoying a quiet night at home last night when, around 9pm, Lucilla Leslie stepped outside for a second - and found herself staring right into the barrel of a gun.
Her husband, Paul Leslie, was sleeping at the time but awoke to find his wife with a gun to her back and the robber demanding money. He narrated the traumatic series of events.
Voice of Paul Leslie, Victim of Home Invasion
"I saw when my wife stepped out the door and as soon as she did the gunman was already there and held her in the chest and put the gun at her head and ask her for the money. My wife told him that we didn't have any money and he brought her inside the house and then she hollered Paul get up. When I open my eyes I realize that the gunman was already in my house. He took the gun off my wife and pointed it at me and he ask me where the money is. I told him we don't have any money right now and then as I took my eye off him for a second, he hit me in my head, causing an injury. I was unconscious for a second or two. I touch my head and I realize I was bleeding and I told me that he have me bleeding and he then he crank the gun and put it to my head and I told him to please don't shoot me. All I have right now is a phone. He ask where the phone was and I told him the phone was charging on the shelf."
But that didn't satisfy the robber, as he then forced Lucilla to take him to her 15-year-old son's bedroom to steal his brand new phone. And while her phone was also new, her quick thinking allowed her to ensure its safety.
Lucilla Leslie, Victim of Home Invasion
"He heard a voice in the room, so he took me into the room with the gun behind my back. When I went in the room he saw my son and then he ask my son about the money and he told him that he didn't have any either. The robber ask my son if he have a phone and my son said yes. My son gave him the phone. At the same time, I put my phone in the barrel. He took me in my room and told me to open the draw as I did that the robber went through the door. I ran and hollered to catch this young man because he have my phone, but he was already heading towards St. Luke School."
But the Leslie family says this robber is no stranger to them - in fact they have helped him many times - and now he turned around and bit the hands that fed him.
Voice of Paul Leslie, Victim of Home Invasion
"My wife have a small business, she sells bread and bun, but most of the time when she goes out and sell she brings back the container empty, because her food is nice. She just her phone A-70 about a week ago. People watch what you have and they know that the device is expensive, so I believe that we were targeted by people observing us in what we have, because the gunman came and ask for money, so we told him that we don't have any money and so he ask me if we have phone, but he already knew because I saw the young man the same evening. We know the young man and he knows us. We know by his voice and his face, color of his skin and hair. He robbed me and my family. He goes around town and try to hustle a dollar here and there to try to eat something. Sometimes he is out there where my wife is selling her bread and bun and sometimes at the end of the day when we dont sell everything, we end up with bread and bun and we would call him to come have a bun and bread. Right away when he gets the bun and bread he bites it because he is a hungry child."
Now Lucilla says she's afraid to keep selling her bread and bun - which is the only income she has.
Lucilla Leslie, Victim of Home Invasion
"Right now I don't feel safe because anything could happen to us while selling bread and bun by the chicken place. They are watching me."
And their son, Mark Leslie, is now unable to attend his online classes without his cellphone.
Mark Leslie, Victim of Home Invasion
"He told me to give him the phone or else he will kill me. He put it on and saw that it had a password and he told me to take off the password, so I did. I use the phone for online classes, but now the phone is gone. I can't do any online classes. I really missed my phone, but it's for my life too."
Reporter
"So you were supposed to have classes today?"
Mark Leslie, Victim of Home Invasion
"Yes."
According to the family, the robber has since been detained by police.
Leslie told us that the loss of the phones is a huge blow for the family since their small income is hardly enough, especially with caring for their disabled son.
