Masked raiders outwitted by teen girl

Masked men armed with axes, hatchets, and hammers were outwitted by a 13-year-old girl when they robbed her home on Sunday.

Four masked raiders broke into Jasmine Lin’s Monaghan home and stabbed her aunt Tina Lin with a screwdriver; however they were forced to abandon the robbery when Jasmine managed to phone gardaí.

“I shouted, ‘I’m calling the guards’, then my auntie came into my room… that’s when I started crying; the blood was dripping down her face,” she said yesterday.

The gang then abandoned their search of the property and left with jewellery and a small sum of money.

Jasmine’s parents, Jason and Susan Lin, who own Lin’s Take Away in Castleblaney, were working when the raid happened. She was at home with her aunt Tina, her eight-year-old brother, and three cousins, aged 5, 3, and 13 months.

Jasmine told RTÉ Radio 1 programme Today with Sean O’Rourke that she only realised the family home in Castleblaney was being robbed when she saw the men standing outside her bedroom door.

The raiders asked her where the money was kept, and she said, “if you want money go find my parents”. They then asked her and if there was anyone else in the house. Jasmine told them her aunt was in the room next door.

They then ransacked the room her aunt Tina was in searching for money. When Tina started screaming, distracting the man guarding her, Jasmine seized the opportunity by slamming the door and locking him outside. She then shouted that she was going to call gardaí.

Jasmine’s mum Susan, speaking to the Irish Examiner, said: “If she hadn’t done it Tina could have been dead, or the kids, we just don’t know”.

Tina received six stitches to her head and Susan said that both Tina and Jasmine had been incredibly brave.

She said of Jasmine: “She’s like her daddy, she’s very brave. She didn’t panic at all she just wanted to do something to help her auntie.”

Susan added that the young children are having nightmares about masked men and waking up screaming at night.