A Benburb mother has warned others to be vigilant after her home was burgled and cars stolen from the drive as she, her husband and three children slept upstairs.
Geanina Gavrila, who lives in the Ashveagh area, has spoken of the “horrible” ordeal she and her family endured when they awoke to find a trail of destruction on Monday morning.
“My family and I were sleeping upstairs and thanks to God my children didn’t hear anything – I dread to think what would have happened had they gone downstairs,” Mrs Gavrila told Armagh I.
The family have been living in the house since May 2018 and say it is a quiet neighbourhood with “good respectful neighbours”.
An Audi A6 was taken from the property but another set of car keys for a second car, a set of house keys and a children’s hoverboard were among the items also snatched during the raid.
Said Mrs Gavrila: “I don’t have much hope of recovering the car or the other stolen items but I just want to make people aware of this in order that they protect themselves better.
“I would never have thought something like this would happen to me or my family, but someone I don’t know was in my home, and my children are now very scared to stay in the house.”
The family only noticed what had happened when Mrs Gavrila’s husband Alex woke up at 7.30am.
“The back door of the house had been jarred open and all kitchen drawers were open,” Mrs Gavrila explained.
“We were keeping the car keys inside one of them. I called the police straight away but after that I was thinking maybe someone has played a stupid joke on us.
“It’s a horrible situation. They put all the lights on in the kitchen and it’s driving me insane when I think about all of it.
“And I just keep thinking about my children and the thought of them disturbing the burglars. The situation could have been so different to what it is now.”
Mrs Gavrila made reference to a burglary in nearby Blackwatertown recently where a a number of cars were stolen in one night.
“I was aware about this kind of activity in the area, but I never thought I would be in the same situation,” she added.
“Luckily, my family and my friends are all supporting us and the children.
“All I want is just for the rest of the community to be aware about the fact that these kind of things are real, and I was one of the people who didn’t protect enough against it.
“Maybe it was just bad luck – I don’t know what.”
