“I thought they were going to kill me,” Mandurah resident Ben Verelst said.
It was 5.45pm on Sunday night, and Mr Verelst was playing computer games after having dinner when he heard a gentle knock on the front door of his Sutton Street house.
As the father-of-four opened the door, three armed men dressed in black hoodies brandishing a hammer and hatchet barged into the home.
The three men marched Mr Verelst into the dining area, sat him down on an armchair and made him look at the floor while they ransacked the house.
“They made a lot of demands ‘Where’s your cash? Where’s your jewellery? Where is your motorbike?’,” he said.
“They threatened to kill me, stab me in the neck, they kept saying ‘tell us this, tell us that, or we are going to stab you on the neck’.”
Mr Verelst tried to cooperate, but when he kept assuring the intruders there were no valuables in the home, the men became aggressive.
“I was scared they were going to decide to start hitting me with that hammer or that hatchet to try to make me talk,” he said.
“All I could think of was don’t hit me on the back of the neck because that can kill a person instantly.
“I was trying to stay calm, answer their questions and not give them any reason to murder me.”
But after asking him several times where he stored his valuables, they punched him in the nose before grabbing his wallet, phone and set of keys and driving off in his $66,000 car.
“I followed them out, I ran out to the front yard and shouted ‘don’t steal my car’, but they did,” he said.
After the men disappeared around the corner, Mr Verelst ran to his neighbour’s house and asked them to call 000 before rushing to hospital for treatment.
Several days later, Mr Verelst has cleaned up his house and is recovering from a broken nose, but the thought of what happened on Sunday evening is still fresh in his mind.
“From the moment I opened the door they had full control, there was nothing I could do,” he said.
“I felt completely trapped and vulnerable.
“One sometimes wonders what would I do if something like this ever happens.
“In your imagination you think I’ll fight them off, but reality is quite different.
“It’s depressing but I can’t let it drag me down, I’ve got to soldier on.”
It's a worry this could end up affecting my relationship with my kids, and I don’t have a car to pick them up, take them anywhere or do anything.
- Mr Verelst.
He said he is thankful that his four daughters weren’t home at the time, but he said he is concerned that what happened could have an impact on his relationship with his children.
“I don’t imagine any of [their mothers] would feel very comfortable leaving the kids here now, and I wouldn’t blame them,” he said.
“But it’s a worry this could end up affecting my relationship with my kids, and I don’t have a car to pick them up, take them anywhere or do anything.”
He is urging other resident to not be complacent and make sure they’ve got basic security measures in place.
“Lock your doors, be mindful of your own basic home security measures,” he said.
“That’s how all of this was able to happen, because I was complacent.”
He is also calling on anyone who might have see his car around the area to contact police, hoping he will be able to recover it in one piece.
“I worked very hard to get into a position where I could get that car, it was my dream car,” he said.
“Even if it’s a bit wrecked it’s OK, I can fix that.”
Mr Verelst car is a silver Holden Commodore with blue SSV457 car plates.
If you have any information about the car contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or report online at crimestopperswa.com.au.