By Luke Voogt
A Belmont woman has praised police officers who protected her during a terrifying early-morning home invasion last Friday.
The disabled woman in her mid-50s, who wanted to remain anonymous, phoned the Indy a few hours after the incident.
“Well done boys in blue!” she said.
At 6.30am the woman was about to put her dog out when she heard a noise.
“As I’m lying down I hear this bang, bang, bang!”
She checked a monitor of live security camera footage, seeing two men armed with a folding hacksaw and crowbar.
“I could see these two guys going into the gazebo with balaclavas on.“
She went into another room to phone police only to find on her return that the men had disappeared from the screen.
“The security wire door was open, so I knew they were inside.”
A Triple Zero operator advised her leave home, so she rushed outside in her pyjamas.
In “not even a minute” two police cars arrived and three officers ran into her home, she said.
The two suspects fled the house with police in pursuit.
“One of the guys jumped the fence and they jumped the fence to get him,” the woman said.
Police arrested him but the other escaped.
Detectives reviewed the security footage, which showed the men removing the balaclavas and exposing their faces.
“(The detectives) saw more that I missed because I was scared and out the front on my phone,” the woman said.
She praised the operator and congratulated police for the arrest and comforting her as she gave a statement.
“I was a nervous wreck. They were very concerned about me and knew how to come to calm me down.“
Geelong Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Guthrie confirmed police had arrested a 50-year-old St Leonards man in relation to the incident.
The man, who was known to police, appeared before Geelong Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, Snr Sgt Guthrie said.
A magistrate remanded the man in custody to reappear on 20 November to face aggravated burglary and other charges, he said.
Police were working to track down the other alleged offender quickly, Snr Sgt Guthrie said.
He praised the woman for her actions during the frightening incident.
“She was pretty calm giving the details to the operator and she did exactly what she was asked to do.”
Police were responding to other incidents “just around the corner” when they received the call, Snr Sgt Guthrie said.
“They’ve done a great job and that’s what we’ve been employed to do.”
