Give my photos back

By Tania Martin
A FERNTREE Gully woman is scared to leave her house, after a terrifying home invasion last month.
Thieves raided Carmen Attard’s home twice in just four weeks.
But in the latest break-in, three men confronted the 55-year-old.
Mrs Attard is now pleading with the bandits to return valuable and irreplaceable photographs of her dead son and husband.
Her house was broken into on Monday 10 November and a DVD was taken. A second break-in occurred on Saturday 13 December.
On the morning of the latest attack, Mrs Attard woke to a loud crash.
Terrified from the previous break-in, she had been taking sedatives.
In a groggy and frightened state, she believed someone was breaking into her house and tried to investigate.
But Mrs Attard collapsed from the shock, split open her chin and was taken to hospital.
She later learnt it was not another break-in, but her toilet ceiling collapsing.
Too scared to sleep in her room, Mrs Attard was resting on her lounge room sofa after returning from hospital when she woke to someone at her front door.
“I called out to check who it was and they said “It’s John” and that’s my landlord’s name,” she said.
“But when I opened the door a little, I saw three men standing there … I tried to shut the door but they forced their way in.”
Mrs Attard was pushed away from the door and the men entered her flat.
The men ran through her house and out the back door.
Frightened for her life, she rang the police.
It was not until the next morning that Mrs Attard noticed her handbag had been taken.
“I don’t care about the money, I just want my things back,” she said.
The bag contained pictures of her son, Manwel, who died six years ago and her husband who passed away two years ago.
“I feel like I have lost my son all over again,” she said.
Mrs Attard’s passport was also stolen, along with $830.
She is now terrified of going outside and locks herself in her house.
“I am so scared – I can’t sleep,” she said.
Mrs Attard has locked all the windows and doors and fears another break-in.
“I feel like I am in jail … like a criminal and I have done nothing wrong,” she said.
Several men have been charged to appear before the Magistrates’ Court, but Knox Police have not yet recovered the photographs.
Anyone who knows the whereabouts of the photographs can contact the Mail on 9752 1611.