A Melbourne father is being hailed as a hero after using an ironing board to defend his family from four teenage intruders armed with machetes during a home invasion in Ivanhoe East. The incident occurred early Thursday morning when the father, identified only as Joe, was woken by his wife around 5am after she heard noises outside their home.
Joe quickly instructed his daughter to join her mother in the bedroom and lock the door. The intruders, who had allegedly been on a three-day crime spree, initially fled but returned to the laundry door, where Joe confronted them with an ironing board. The ordeal triggered traumatic memories for Joe, who had been attacked 25 years earlier by three masked men who tied him up, gaffer-taped him, bashed him, and robbed him.
Joe told 7NEWS, 'My first thought was, no one’s going to touch my girls tonight.' After the confrontation, Joe collapsed and suffered a full panic attack. His daughter recalled, 'Mum is screaming on the phone, call an ambulance, call an ambulance.' Police arrived minutes later and launched an investigation into what they described as an attempted aggravated burglary.
Later that night, Joe's wife was rushed to hospital in an ambulance suffering chest pain from a panic attack. Despite the trauma, Joe expressed relief that his family was safe, saying, 'The upside is that both my girls are here today.'
Police arrested four boys aged between 14 and 15 about 20km north of the home in Mernda. All were remanded in custody at a children’s court on Friday. However, Joe expressed frustration about youth crime consequences, stating, 'There’s no punishment for the crime and they’ve changed our lives forever now.'
