Samantha Durnford says her family is still living with the fear of a masked gang that broke into their Queensland south-east home last December and stole two vehicles before dawn. Months later, she says she is still struggling to sleep after the invasion, which unfolded in the dead of night and left the family shaken.
The break-in happened at 1.30am, when the family woke to the sound of a glass door smashing downstairs. Durnford said the thieves forced their way in through a rear glass door with a rock and a metal pole, and that everything happened pretty quickly. What began as a home invasion ended with the gang driving off with two vehicles from the Rochedale South property.
The details of that night make the intruders’ escape harder to take. Durnford said her husband, Cameron, first saw two or three people inside the downstairs part of the house and shouted out, thinking he had scared them away. He then heard the garage door opening and went down to investigate, only to be confronted by six intruders wearing balaclavas, gloves and fully covered clothing.
Even with security cameras, alarms and deadlocked doors in place, the thieves still broke in. The family’s precautions did not stop the gang from getting inside, and they did not stop the offenders from smashing through a security gate to escape. A neighbour tried to intervene during the theft, and Durnford said the man came to Cameron’s rescue in his underwear with a shovel in an effort to stop them. She said he was hit by a vehicle out the front and went over the bonnet before he reached their property.
Durnford said the home invasion made her feel terrified, and that she still has trouble sleeping. She described it as one of the worst experiences of her life and said she would not wish it on anyone. The open question now is whether police have recovered the vehicles or identified the men who forced their way into the house, but the family’s account makes one thing clear: the shock of that night has not faded.
