A timely Reminder to always check your doors are locked...

[Sammi]

Its 4am in the morning and I aint sleeping anytime soon, Ive been awake now since 1:45am, Police and K9 unit have been and gone... why you ask because For that once in a million time i finished editing some photos and went straight to bed forgetting to check the door in the lounge next to our bedroom....

at 1.45 I was awake after my 9mth old stirred (she co sleeps most nights) while cuddleing her back to sleep i heard a noise that sounded like a door closing (most nights one of my kids is normally up and about either going to the toilet , getting drinks etc) so its not unusall to here noises, then next minute I had that eiree feeling i was being watched I rolled over towards the door expecting to see my 6yr old standing there like she does alot of nights but instead a 6ft dark figure was standing there instead,

Let me tell you that was the scariest thing to ever be half asleep and see knowing all well the only other adult in the house is in bed with you... I yelled out to the person and they ran for the door they had left open me following behind which thinking about it now was the dumbest thing to do, I dont know how loud i yelled (It felt like nothing was coming out) but it must have been somewhat loud cause it woke the other half and he was following close behind,

The Police came within maybe 5mins of calling 000 and where wonderful thru the whole ordeal, and will be sending a unit out in the morning to do dusting, the dog didnt find anyone but a unit did find a person matching the description I gave only 1/2km down the road only problem was I could have swore it was male but this person was female....

so now im sitting here with all the lights on, the outside lights on waiting for dawn to come befor i can finally maybe get some sleep, too scared to right now....
The weird thing in all this is that this person walked past my desk with my laptop and my 50D sitting on it, past a 50inch TV and numerous other things, and came straight into our bedroom when there was so much there they could have taken and pawned...

I guess the point of telling everyone is these things do happen and to be vigilent when going to bed at night... even during the day and your home to make sure all your doors are locked... I know my doors even when me and rick are home will never be left unlocked again...It feels so horrible to be scared to sleep thinking this could happen again and being scared to be in your own home...

[ricktas]

Oh Sammi. Quite a disturbing night for you, and scarey. Agree re the locking of doors, I tend to double check them all.

[Sammi]

Very Scarey Rick have not slept a wink, My body is yelling for sleep but my mind just wont switch off... every little noise makes me jump... My house is probably the cleanest its been since bub was born.. anything to keep me awake at this stage, when dawn hits i think i will feel better, Rick Is Taking an RDO tommorow as he was up until about an hr ago, which makes me feel better knowing that an adult male will be in the house, Normally I check and double check all doors but last night i was soo tired it just escaped me, Just happened to also be the one night a 1 in a million chance of someone relizeing it was unlocked and taking the oppurtunity to come in...

[ricktas]

chances are they tried several houses, looking for an unlocked door. Just seeking opportunity rather than you specifically You will be safe! Just keep your doors locked.

[ameerat42]

Look out! and Lock out!

[etherial]

:eek: That is certainly something I dread, it is a horrible feeling waking up thinking someone is in the house, but to actually have someone there, OMG!

[learn2shoot]

OMG!! glad that everyone is safe and nothing got taken. Hope your can start feeling secure in your home again.

[Lance B]

Whoah! Very scary indeed. Glad you are ok though, as sometimes you hear of incidents where the intruders attack and injure, or worse kill! Sounds like they didn't get anything, which is great news. I don't mean to alarm, but it's best to be warned, the other thing to consider is they may have been after your kids and when you woke and saw them and then called out it scared them off!

[ktoopi]

Oh it's a terrible feeling! you poor thing. Thank god your other half was there with you....if the intruder wasn't interested in stealing things who knows what might have happened if you were alone. So glad you and your family are ok.

[Bennymiata]

Double check your handbag, and for your partner's wallet, as it is usually cash these thieves are after, and you may not have noticed your wallet missing in all the hoo-ha.

I feel for you too Sammy, as it is very frightening to have a stranger in your house.
Lucky for you they ran off!

[Analog6]

Scarey stuff indeed! He/she was probably just checking how many people were in the house before proceeding to rifle the joint - thank god you woke up. I always keep the doors locked when I am home alone through the ay - luckily we have a goo security screen door on the front but the back screen doesn't lock so I can't have that inner door open.

And I hate to be a doom sayer but this person has now eyeballed all your stuff - be extra vigilant for a few weeks as they might come back with friends. I do say might, the noise and presence of Police will most likely have scared them off permanently, but be carful.

[andrewvid]

yes indeed double check your doors, it was lucky that you weren't the only one, it certainly makes you feel just that bit more comfortable.

just last night i almost forgot to lock my glass sliding door in the lounge room! i already had 4 people in 2 years come and attempt a robbery, weird thing is is that the attempt was in broad daylight! the last one i had was some 30 year old looking man who came down when i was all alone (no cars were home).

I guess he thought that no one was home.. but i was. as he came, he knocked on the door and realised that i was there so he simply said "oh i just came down here to tell you that i saw your dog's neck was stuck in the fence". but i knew this wasn't true because 1. i was home the day before 2. i live in a battle axe so i am behind another house thus no one can see inside unless they walk down the driveway..
now i was only about 12 then... and that scared the hell outta me!

so yes double check your doors and even if you think or know that you locked it just check that they are properly locked and that the lock is in place.
it's better to be safe then sorry.

[fillum]

Sorry to read this Sammi, very scary indeed! The worst part is the feeling of being 'violated' that really churns in your gut - it's a feeling you can't really appreciate till it happens to you.

Rick is most likely right here, they were just trying doors till they found one unlocked - just looking for the path of least resistance. Often there will be a number of houses in the same area broken into around the same time. And as Benny said they were probably looking for cash. If they didn't find any they would probably have taken your camera/laptop on the way out. While it can be hard not to think of worst-case "what if" scenarios it is pretty rare for bad things (attacks, etc) to happen. NSW has around 40,000 break and enter incidents a year and the vast majority don't even rate a mention in the local rag.

Keep your doors locked and you should be fine. And let your neighbours know about it...



Cheers.

[Sammi]

Thanks Everyone, I still havent slept i feel like a zombie atm, on the up side ive been able to get alot of study done... I think I might have scared the crap out of them as much as they did me, and with chasing after them (which after the adrenilin stopped i relized was an absolutly stupid thing to do) I dont think they would be coming back any time soon... either way the house is still locked up like a fortress now... Im useually OCD about having the doors locked and will even get up a few times after knowing there locked to check again just in case.. but having a sick 12yr old and a bub who wakes numerous times during the night had left its toll on me... and like any human being i forgot...



I don't mean to alarm, but it's best to be warned, the other thing to consider is they may have been after your kids and when you woke and saw them and then called out it scared them off!

Lance this is exactly what i said to the other half after the police left, Felt like an idiot saying it but the fact that they came straight to our room and was standing near the cot that my bub would have been in had it not been for her waking 15mins earlier just gave me more of a scare...

[outstar79]

Definitely a very scary situation and am glad everyone got through it unscathed. I do know how you feel, as I had a similar experience when I was in the city for uni. But now living back in the country and in the middle of whoop whoop, I even leave the keys in the car and doors unlocked as you can't even find our place properly on a GPS.


Hope all is well.

[CHardy]

Thank Goodness you and your loved ones are safe. My kids laugh at me because my house is like Fort Knox...everything key locked at night. I hope you relax enough to get a few hours sleep, and once again, glad to hear everyone is ok...everything else can be replaced :)

[Sammi]

Definitely a very scary situation and am glad everyone got through it unscathed. I do know how you feel, as I had a similar experience when I was in the city for uni. But now living back in the country and in the middle of whoop whoop, I even leave the keys in the car and doors unlocked as you can't even find our place properly on a GPS.


Hope all is well.

I know what you mean about liveing in the middle of nowhere and leaving doors etc unlocked... we use to live in a similar situation gps stopped 1km from our place and it was in the middle of nowhere, we moved down here to the city for ricks work am starting to regret it after last night... im definatly not a city person..

[ricktas]

Long term, consider getting a reasonble sized dog. Even a labrador will growl in the middle of the night (mine do) and its a great deterent if someone happens to be sneaking around outside. Mine go off, if someone comes down the path at night.

[Tikira]

I am so sorry to hear of this Sammi. It stinks that you can't feel safe in your own home. Just keep the doors locked and try to get some sleep when you can for a while, there is no use jeopardising your health over lack of sleep.

I agree with Rick that a dog would help if possible (any size- my Jack Russell sounds very ferocious when he barks), it has made all the difference to me feeling safe when hubby is away. Several years ago when we lived in town we had our car broken into. We called the police and they told us groups of thieves were "mapping" properties with dogs by getting them to bark at night, and then targetting houses without any.

I know all of us on AP are thinking of you, and wish you peaceful dreams sometime soon

Di

[Lianne]

What a terrible experience. Glad to hear you and your family are ok. Don't be afraid to seek counselling if you don't get back to normal sleeping patterns soon.

[Ionica]

Hope it all works out well for you. My wife is often casual about locking doors - I may have to show her this.

[Kerrie]

So glad this ended well for you. How horrible.



Get a deadlock that locks automatically simply by closing your door, but remains unlocked if u need to get out. I'm sure ur already looking into it.

[Sammi]

Long term, consider getting a reasonble sized dog. Even a labrador will growl in the middle of the night (mine do) and its a great deterent if someone happens to be sneaking around outside. Mine go off, if someone comes down the path at night.

Rik weve been talking about getting a husky for sometime now, but have put it off cause were renting and where gonna wait till we brought our own place but i think we will be getting permission from the owner to get a dog now for that exact reason. even a growl to let us know.. if it hadnt been for bub waking up a bit earlier i dont know if i would have relized they where there..

[Mark L]

Glad you all are safe. You will get over this.
:angry0::action::angry0::action: and other swear words for people that do this!


.....
Get a deadlock that locks automatically simply by closing your door, but remains unlocked if u need to get out. I'm sure ur already looking into it.
That's fair, but I want to remind people not to dead lock doors with a key if there are people in the house. Fires happen fast and people have died in the panic trying to get internally dead locked doors open.
Get down low and go, go, go.

[ameerat42]

Some key points mentioned in this long thread.

[Allie]

This was very frightening for you and I'm so very glad that all that is missing is your sleep and the feeling of security in your home but I hope you get that back soon. <hugs> I agree with Rick that it was probably someone trying a series of doors until an open one was found - a planned event would have had a different outcome, though it was very bold as no doubt with a child and a new baby it was probably obvious that the house was occupied.

I had something similar happen over summer but nowhere near as frightening as yours - just disturbing. The front door and security door of my empty rental property awaiting repair was left open late at night by me for one night only in anticipation of an early electrician visit the following morning (stupid in retrospect but I had changed all the locks and didn't want anyone else to have the last set of keys). During that night a young man opened the doors and slept in front of the heater on a clean dog bed I was using to protect the bathroom tiles from tools. He was only discovered by a passer-by as he was exiting the house. Although there were various tools laying around, nothing was taken or damaged or used (other than the dog bed:eek:). How he knew it was open I don't know as it was opened unobtrusively from the inside and I exited from the rear which was deadlocked. I think he was just someone looking for somewhere to sleep and was trying all the houses he passed - this house is among a series of holiday homes. Hopefully your intruder only had similar intentions and you can rest a bit easier.

Thanks for sharing this experience as it is a good reminder. I also recommend the dog owning suggestion as a deterrent although that is probably difficult when you rent - but I need to add that in that respect, thieves can take anything I have as long as they don't hurt my dog:angry0:.

[Tommo224]

I agree with Rick that a dog would help if possible (any size- my Jack Russell sounds very ferocious when he barks), it has made all the difference to me feeling safe when hubby is away. Several years ago when we lived in town we had our car broken into. We called the police and they told us groups of thieves were "mapping" properties with dogs by getting them to bark at night, and then targetting houses without any.

Could be why my dogs at home used to bark so often at "nothing", causing our neighbours to complain often? Maybe they were barking for reason such as the underlined?


Hopefully your landlord allows you to have a dog, I'm sure they won't have a problem with it after these reasons and if you keep the place clean. (I know I would be OK with it in your case if you were living in my rental property).


Such a scary thought! The image in my head is creeping me out majorly. I just hope, for your sake, that they were merely casing houses out in the street, happened to come across yours and was checking the rooms to figure out where the people in the house were, so they could sneak around elsewhere in the house. And you just happened to wake up and startled them before they could take anything! Had you not woken up, they may have snuck around elsewhere to take items from other rooms and had no intentions on bringing harm to you and your family. I really hope that is the case (better of two evils?).

My wishes and thoughts to you, and hopefully this person is taken down!

[ving]

Holly cow! Am glad you are ok and that's the main thing hey. Keep that door locked hey!

Sent from my HTC Incredible S using Tapatalk 2

[elysium]

Wow, its really an eye opener, other half is always telling me to lock the screen and main door but i never pay attention, I will from now on!
Glad you are okay!

[old dog]

thank goodness you and your family are safe after this awful experience. Such a shame to have to lock ourselves in but there is a world full of bottom feeders out there.

[yummymummy]

oh Sammi, I feel your pain sweety :( I had the same thing happen to me, hence why I moved out bush!!! I was a single mum at the time, with two small kids, unfortunately I wasn't as lucky and did get some damage when I was forcefully pushed to the ground by two of the men on their way out the door. I now sleep very lightly, and check, double check, and triple check the doors and windows before going to bed..... sleep will come peacefully again to you, it might take a while, but you'll get there xoxoxoxo