A woman has described the moment she feared two children would die – when a robber stormed her Highland home armed with a gun.
Lisa Ann Cetiner wept as she recalled the night a masked man barged into her house in Drumnadrochit and demanded she hand over thousands of pounds in cash.
The 48-year-old was giving evidence yesterday on day two of Ali Akguc’s trial at the High Court in Aberdeen.
Prosecutors allege the 36-year-old covered his face before he forced his way into her house at Coiltie Crescent, Kilmore, armed with a gun.
It is alleged he then assaulted Mrs Cetiner and the two children in her care by forcing them to sit on the floor, before making off with £3,165.
Akguc, of Beale Close, Enfield, London, denies the charges.
Yesterday Mrs Cetiner said she had been watching the final of reality TV show I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here on December 6 when there was a knock at the door shortly before 10pm.
She said that she could not see anyone through the panes of glass in her front door, but as she tried to pull the handle down to open it, a man started to push his way into her home.
She said she panicked and tried to close the door, but he poked what she thought was the barrel of a gun through the gap between the door and its frame.
The court heard that the man, whose face was covered with a grey knitted scarf or polo neck, then pointed the weapon at her and the two children, who had come into the hall to see what the commotion was about.
Mrs Cetiner said he then ordered the youngsters to sit on the living room floor before he demanded Mrs Cetiner go and get some cash.
She told the court that although she could not see his face properly, she recognised him as someone who used to work for her husband in his Fort Augustus restaurant, The Moorings.
The court heard that on the Thursday evening before the incident, Mrs Cetiner had gone to the restaurant to pick up the weekly takings as her husband had been away in Turkey.
She said she took the money home in a small plastic takeaway box and placed it under some clothes in her wardrobe.
The court heard she had a gut feeling that the man – who she described as being Turkish with dark skin and dark eyes – knew her husband was away and that she would be in possession of a lot of money.
She said that the worst part of the ordeal was when the man stood over the young boy and girl in her living room while she had to go and fetch the cash.
She said: “I was not sure if the gun he had in his hand was a real gun. I was not sure what he would do to me or the children.
“I was scared because I was in the bedroom and the children were still in the living room. When I was through getting the money I could hear him (the boy) shouting at the man ‘do not kill me, do not shoot me’.”
Mrs Cetiner said that she grabbed the plastic box with the money in it and shoved it into a plastic bag he was carrying.
But the robber told her it was not enough and demanded that she go and find more cash.
She told the court she managed to find about £1,400 which her husband had left for her, in case of an emergency, hidden in a briefcase in her room.
The court heard the man then took the money and ran before shouting “do not scream or I will come back and shoot you”.
Mrs Cetiner said that once the man had left she ran to the front door and locked it before calling the police.
The trial, before Lord Burns, continues.