Three thieves attacked a family home and threatened to kill a baby if the mother did not give them gold.
Three men broke into the family home in Wrexham in broad daylight and came face to face with owner Berinder Dhaliwal. One of the thieves snatched his girl from his hands while stripping the victim of her jewelry, including the wedding ring.
Mrs Dhaliwal, who had undergone a cesarean section a few weeks earlier, also received a punch in the abdomen. The thugs threatened to kill her baby if she did not say where her gold was stored. Ms. Dhaliwal pointed to the jewelry box from which the thugs grabbed the contents before fleeing.
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John Price, a 22-year-old homeless man, today pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft and assisting a criminal in detaining him. Scott Powell, 23, of Y Wern in Wrexham, who helped move the getaway vehicle, admitted the same charges. Patrick Flynn, 19, of Station Court in Gwersyllt, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit a robbery.
Mold Crown Court heard today that thieves had planned to attack a house in Wrexham, exploring a property with a white van before stopping shortly before 2.30pm in September 2020. The men, who were wearing surgical masks and dark clothes, they crashed through the glass doors of the courtyard believing the house was empty.
But minutes after her arrival they were “surprised” to find Mrs Dhaliwal on the landing grabbing her baby girl. Prosecutor Simon Mintz said the men “were not deterred by his presence” and instead piled up to snatch his jewelry.
North Wales Live reported that Mrs Dhaliwal was thrown into bed and punched in the abdomen where her cesarean wound was still healing. A thief pointed out what the victim thought was a screwdriver and told him they would kill the baby if he didn’t tell them where to look.
The terrified mother took this threat seriously and “begged” them not to hurt her son as he aimed them at a jewelry box. They slid the contents before escaping, leaving the mother of two abused and bruised to alert police.
In an impact statement from the victim taken in April 2022, the victim described feeling “persistent anxiety and insomnia”. She now wears no jewelry and has only been able to return to her job as a part-time pharmacist since the incident.
An investigation found “several items” belonging to the family at Powell’s home, Mintz said. Police also found clothing linking Flynn to the attack and found that the gang tried to hide the black Volkswagen in a different direction to “abandon the police”.
In the days that followed, the court also learned that Flynn had called his older brother, who is currently in prison for his role in the crime, to talk about the robbery. These had been recorded and he was heard saying, “I’m stuck, aren’t I? I’m getting older.”
Carl Woolf, in defense of Price, said his client was already serving a prison sentence imposed by Luton Crown Court for a “series of robberies” he committed after the crime. He was in the area visiting the Wrexham family at the time.
Woolf told the judge that Price became a crime to finance his drug habit, which saw him spend hundreds of pounds a day on “a combination of crack and heroin” for smoking. His time in prison so far has been the longest he has been drug-free.
In defense of Flynn, Andrew Green said his client was “a man who came out of his depths” when he became involved in the raid. He admitted that his “fate is sealed” and that he was awaiting a long period in prison for these “really terrible actions”.
However, Green said Flynn went to court to “confront the music” and expressed “nothing but real remorse.” He told his lawyers he would “give his left arm” to apologize to the victim.
In Powell’s defense, Matthew Curtis said his client had “limited maturity and sophistication” when he helped try to hide the car at his mother’s home after the robbery was committed. He added that Powell was “an ambitious and hardworking young man” who worked all his life in various industries.
A young co-defendant, represented by Phil Tully, did not go to court for sentencing. It has been reported that the “worried” family of the 17-year-old warned the legal team that he had disappeared from his home yesterday (May 30).
The court learned how he had attended all the previous hearings and that his performance is “completely out of place”. Judge Niclas Parry issued an arrest warrant and brought him to court.
Judge Parry called the attack a “terrible and extremely serious crime” that caused the victim “serious psychological harm.” He had no doubt that imprisonment would be the only justifiable punishment.
He said: “This was a pre-planned attack on a property where you knew an Asian family lived. So you thought gold would be saved.
“Instead of leaving after facing a lone female and her two-month-old baby, you yelled at each other and carried her away. You ripped a necklace from her neck. and the wedding ring on your finger and you brandished a gun while she grabbed her baby. “
Price was jailed for seven and a half years. Flynn received six years and two months, while Powell received one year and nine months.
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