Young boy wins Alan Henning Youth Award for protecting his family from robbers
A small but brave boy was awarded for defending his mother against a gang of seven armed raiders who broke into their family home.
Six-year-old Muhammed Ali jumped up to protect him mother after Rifat Akram as the masked men demanded gold and money at gunpoint. The father of the home, Muhammed Siaz, had yet to return home from work.
The youngster first spotted the robbers at the door when he mistakenly thought his father came home. At the time Akram, Ali, Shahyan, were sitting in an upstairs bedroom along with four-year-old brother Muhammed Abbas.
“When Muhammed Ali heard a noise at the door he ran out to see if it was his dad. A few seconds later he came back and said Spiderman had broken into the house – then these men wearing black face masks appeared.
“They had a knife and a gun. They came straight away into my bedroom and said ‘Don’t move, hands up’.
“My children started crying at what was happening.
“They kept yelling ‘Don’t move, tell us where the gold is, tell us where the money is. Tell us right now!’
“I was so scared. I thought nobody could save us. I was trying to think how I could call for help. I didn’t have any gold in the house and I only had £5 in my pocket. I thought they were going to kill me and I just felt lifeless.
“Then one of the men took my little baby and shook him very hard and shouted ‘Tell me where the gold is!’ At that point I thought I was going to faint.”
But as Akram was still in shock little Muhammed Ali sprung into action.
“He told the men ‘Please keep away from my mummy. Don’t you touch her!’” said Akram.
“He came over and hugged me and tried to support me, tried to protect me.
“When they tried to take off my gold earrings he said ‘No! Don’t touch her, I’ll do it.’
“He kept saying ‘Nothing’s going to happen, I’m with you mummy. Just give them anything we have. Give it to him and ask him to go away from here’.
“He was so brave. I thought I couldn’t do anything, but he tried to motivate me and told me that I could. He saved the family that day.”
Ali was awarded an Alan Henning Youth Award at Balsall Heath Forum’s fourth annual ceremony recognising neighbourhood champions. West Midlands Police Superintendent Baz Javid presented the award, describing Ali as an inspiration.
“It was so amazing to see that this small boy has shown such bravery in trying to protect his mother, and I was honoured to have been able to hand out the Alan Henning award to him,” he said.
However Akram has revealed that despite his bravery at the time, Ali is trying to recover from the trauma. She said he has lost his confidence and finds it difficult to sleep at night. He even has nightmares that people will come to kill him and his brother.
“It’s just settling down now, and we’ve had counseling to help.
“We try and motivate him by telling him that he saved us. He was such a support.”
During that terrifying night the robbers stole only a mobile phone, police have said no one has been charged in connection with the incident.
