A FAMILY have spoken of their terrifying ordeal after being robbed at gunpoint of life savings during a break-in at a house in west Belfast.
Police are investigating reports that three masked men - two armed with handguns - threatened three women, aged 81, 49, and 25 during the robbery at Glenfearna Gardens in the Lagmore area on Friday night.
Josephine Joyce (49) told how she had just given her elderly mother her medication and gone to bed when she heard noises in the house before 11pm.
After going to the landing to investigate she was confronted by a man in a balaclava, holding a handgun.
Ms Joyce said she had no idea who the intruders were but feared the men were going to try and attack her daughter.
They tied her hands behind her back and pushed her to ground and warned that she would be shot dead if she didn't reveal where her elderly mother kept her money.
Ms Joyce's daughter, 25-year-old Saoirse, was also held by the men during the incident after they "barged" into her bedroom.
She said she tried to shout for help out a window, but found herself dragged back and a handgun pointed at her head.
"One of them trailed me down by the hair onto the ground and said to the other one 'hold her there'.
"He pointed a gun to my head and I couldn't move and all I kept saying was 'my granny, my granny'."
She added: "It still doesn't feel real."
The men then made off in a small silver vehicle with a substantial sum of cash which they found hidden in a box upstairs.
Sinn Féin's Jennifer McCann described the robbery as "shocking" and a "terrifying ordeal for all the victims of these thugs."
Detective Constable Fiona Mills said: "This was a despicable act perpetrated against three generations of the one family. All of these women have been left understandably extremely shaken and upset by the ordeal."
Police have appealed for anyone with information to contact officers on 101.