KUCHING: Robbers struck at a house belonging to a doctor, tied up his family and took over RM25,000 in cash and jewellery about 4pm yesterday.

The doctor was not at home as he was outstation.

His wife, son, daughter, mother and mother-in-law were in the house.

The four men, who were armed with a meat cleaver and wooden sticks, entered the house through a side door after cutting open the mesh fencing at the back of the house.

They used several shirts belonging to the family to cover their faces before heading up to the master bedroom where they overpowered the doctor’s 46-year-old wife.

The intruders then led the woman to each of her children’s room, grabbed hold of them as well and gathered the family inside the room of the doctor’s elderly mother.

Except for the old woman, the others all had their hands bound using handphone charger cords.

The doctor’s elderly mother-in-law, meanwhile, was asleep in a room downstairs and was oblivious of the incident taking place.

The robbers, who were described as locals, then spent the next 30 minutes ransacking the house before escaping through an alley at the back of the house with around RM13,000 in local and foreign currencies, RM9,000 in jewellery, a laptop and four handphones.

Prior to fleeing, however, the robbers still found time to ‘exchange’ their slippers for three pairs of sports shoes belonging to the family which were kept in front of the house.

The family freed themselves after the departure of the intruders and alerted the police.

A police team comprising district CID head DSP Kaderi Said, forensics and canine unit arrived at the scene to investigate and gather evidence.

They managed to find the meat cleaver along with two shirts and a few pairs of slippers left by the robbers at the scene.

Meanwhile, a neighbour of the victims told reporters that she woke up around 4.30am after hearing her dogs barking loudly and the sound of motorcycles speeding away but did not pay much attention to the noise as they were ‘normal sounds’.

A police report was lodged later that morning and the case is being investigated.

Yesterday’s incident was the third related case in the space of two days following Tuesday morning’s incidents at the respective homes of Sebuyau state assemblymen Julaihi Narawi and a telecommunications company marketing manager.