A heavily pregnant woman and her six-year-old daughter were held at knifepoint in their home, it has emerged.
Fatima Bibi, who is due to give birth on Wednesday, told how one of two robbers held a machete against her stomach and said: “Pregnant lady, I’m going to kill you.”
Bibi was at home in Oldham, Greater Manchester, with her four children – Mohammed, 13, Hasnain, eight, Hooria, six, and five-year-old Asra – when they heard a knock at the door.
Hasnain opened the door and two men stormed into the house, dragging Hooria upstairs, where they held a knife to her throat.
Bibi, 36, said: “From the stairs, I saw one masked man holding my six-year-old girl from the neck, and he had a big knife in his hand, dragging her upstairs.
“And one person behind him. They both came upstairs and they held me there. He asked me: ‘Where’s your safe? Where’s your money?’ He still had my girl in one hand around her neck, with the knife pressing against her skin. At that time I was so scared and crying.
“I was begging them: ‘Don’t do anything to my girl. I don’t have any safe. I don’t have any money.’
“One person started searching, and the other person put the knife on my stomach and he said: ‘Pregnant lady, I’m going to kill you. Tell me quickly, where’s your safe, where’s your money.’
“The person started searching in my bedroom. The other masked man with the knife dragged my daughter downstairs and I ran behind him, because my other three kids were in the living room.
“He told my kids not to scream, and he waved the knife at them as well. The other person finished searching and then came down and said: ‘Let’s go.’”
The robbers burst into the house at about 7.30pm last Friday.
After stealing an iPhone 5s, they ran out and across the road down an alleyway.
The first man is described as white, taller than 6ft and of heavy build. He was wearing a black wool balaclava, a dark baseball cap with the hood of his jacket up and a sleeveless black quilted jacket and dark top, black wool gloves and dark blue jeans. He spoke with a local accent.
The second man is described as white, about 5ft 5in, 25 years old with light-coloured eyes, an oval-shaped face, short patchy ginger beard, and of medium build. He also spoke with a local accent.
He was wearing a black wool hat pulled down to just above his eyebrows, with the hood from his red jumper over the hat, a black sleeveless quilted coat, black gloves and brown chinos.
Bibi said the incident has given her sleepless nights and left her children traumatised. She said: “Me and my kids were at home alone, and we were the most vulnerable people at that time. It is not easy to forget that moment, it is frozen in my mind.
“They knew we are Asian people, that we buy jewellery and keep it at home. I’m going to hospital tomorrow to have my baby girl, and I’m worried because I’m leaving my kids at home with my husband.
“Nobody should be allowed to do that to kids in our society. I just hope people come forward and do their part. Today I’m the victim, tomorrow it might be someone else.”
Detectives have released CCTV footage of two men approaching the house.
DI Kenny Blain, from Greater Manchester Police (GMP), said: “This was an atrocious attack on an innocent family in their own home. The mum is due to give birth any day and the stress this would have caused her could have potentially threatened the life of her unborn child. How anyone could hold a knife to the throat of a six-year-old is beyond comprehension.”
