WELL-KNOWN CHILDREN’S RIGHTS campaigner Christina Noble was held at knifepoint in her own home last night.
Speaking to Newstalk’s Pat Kenny Show this morning, the charity founder said that a man carrying a “moon-shaped knife” had broken into her home using a set of tools, and stayed despite the house alarm going off.
He stayed for 12 minutes, Christina said, but “when a knife is held to your throat it feels like 12 hours”.
Christina is the founder of the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, which aims to help children in need in Vietnam and Mongolia.
She had just returned back from a trip to Vietnam after doctors said she needed rest. Upon her return, she had collapsed in a store and was rushed to hospital.
“They thought I might have [had] a stroke. Anyway, I’m a tough bird and I got through it all, and here I am in my home that I value and I bought for my family… and I feel it’s so soiled now.”
She said that she’s been told the attacker entered her home just before 4am early this morning using a flat-headed screwdriver.
“I was asleep downstairs because I saved a cat who is an orphan and he was in a terrible state, he was beaten up and all that stuff.
I was asleep and there was something tipping my arm. I turned around and he [the intruder] took the knife and held it over my throat.
He asked her to give him money while holding the knife to her throat. She said he shouted:
Give me the money, I’m gonna kill you, I’m gonna kill you, do you understand me? No messing, I’m gonna kill you.
This went on for around 12 minutes – Christina told him she has no money. Then she said she became very calm – she isn’t sure if it was “shock, or God, or adrenaline”.
“I stayed calm for my mind to try and work properly. I have a panic button on the table beside me, and I have all my paperwork on it…
And I wanted to put my hand on the panic button but I was afraid he’d see me and take the panic button. So I waited for the moment, and he kind of turned his head at one point and I took it, and I just pressed the button.
And then it went ‘boo boo boo boo’ and he yelled something [horrible] at me and with that he took the keys, my phone and went out and took my car.
She said the gardaí arrived very quickly after that.
“I just want people to know that there are people going around doing this, I don’t want my whereabouts known in case of another [attack], but people should know what’s happened and to lock-up.”
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