Maryam Alavinasab sits at the dining room table in her two-storey home near York Mills Road and Leslie Street and cries, explaining she has barely slept in the past six days.
The mother of two daughters, aged 12 and 18, who moved to Canada from Iran seven years ago says she bought the home two years ago before gutting and re-designing it. The main floor bathroom, she says, even earned her a design award.
But Alavinasab says her dream home is now a place that gives her nightmares after an armed home invasion last week.
“I can’t live here anymore,” Alavinasab says, through tears.
Video surveillance Alavinasab shared with Global News from the many cameras in and around her house shows four masked men approaching the rear patio doors and before gaining access on Oct. 29th at 3:40 a.m.
A robotic voice can be heard on the video saying, “Attention please, the area is under surveillance,” but the thieves appear undeterred.
Alavinasab says she had gone to the bedroom of her 12-year-old daughter because her child was having trouble sleeping.
She was fast asleep on a mattress on the floor, next to her daughter’s bed, when she recalls waking up to see two men standing over her head.
“I remember that somebody put a gun on my neck and asked me, ‘where is the safe?’ Two men came to my daughter’s room. That was the scariest moment,” Alavinasab recalled, with tears running down her face.
English is her second language, she said, at first, she didn’t understand what they meant by “the safe”. She said she tried to remain calm so she wouldn’t startle her children who she later learned were pretending to be asleep.
Alavinasab said the suspects dragged her by her hair, with a gun pointed to her neck into her closet and continued to demand “where is the safe?” The closet had already been ransacked.
She said she eventually realized what they meant and told them, “there is no safe.”
She says the suspects didn’t believe her because they made her go downstairs to the main floor of the home, looking in closets and in the garage for the safe. Alavinasab said she even offered them the keys to her Range Rover, but they weren’t interested.
After about six minutes inside, the four suspects suddenly fled with handbags, jewelry and money.
When she went back upstairs, Alavinasab said she learned that her 18-year-old daughter had called 911 when she was downstairs with the intruders.
“She went into her bathroom and locked the door and called 911, but she tells me that she stays on the line and nobody answered. Four to five minutes or three to four minutes, I don’t remember exactly,” said Alavinasab, explaining her daughter had been put on hold.
The homeowner believes if a 911 operator picked up her call sooner, the suspects might have been caught.
“My daughter, at 3:40 a.m., why does she have to be on the line. If they shoot me, I will die,” Alavinasab says, questioning why anyone is left on hold during an emergency.
She also says she learned from her next-door neighbour that police originally went there and asked them who called 911.
Alavinasab says she is also upset because since the day of the home invasion, she has not heard from police or anyone to offer her and her family support.
“I moved here for a better life, for a safer life, and I don’t feel safe anymore and I was thinking that maybe someone calls me and asks me, ‘do you need anything?’ ‘Do you want any help?’ Nothing,” said Alavinasab, her voice cracking.
In a statement to Global News, Toronto Police Service spokesperson Stephanie Sayer tells Global News that no one should have to wait to report an emergency.
“On October 29, the 911 call reporting a break and enter in progress was answered at 3:43 after being in the queue for exactly two minutes. Officers were dispatched at 3:44 and arrived at 3:49. The suspects had fled before officers arrived. The average 911 wait time that day was just 6 seconds,” wrote Sayer.
Sayer said, upon arrival, officers searched the surrounding area for the suspects, including the backyard.
“There was a brief delay before entering the home due to evidence being located in the driveway of a neighbouring residence, but the delay was short,” Sayer added.
Sayer said police understand how distressing this incident was and said Victim Services support was offered to the residents.
“Investigators will follow up directly with the family to ensure they have the support and information they need.”
No arrests have been made.