A guest worker has given a harrowing account of an armed robbery at her home in the early hours of yesterday, which left her visiting family traumatised by a knife-wielding assailant.

“It was like a nightmare,” said the woman, a Costa Rican who has lived on the Island with her husband for several years without incident.

She requested that no further details about the family be published, out of fear of a reprisal.

Her sister and nephew, who has just turned 18, had come to the Island last week to visit and celebrate the boy’s birthday.

“My sister left the door open because of the heat — there was only the screen, and this guy came into my house.”

Her visiting family were roused a little after 1am to discover an intruder rifling through the bathroom.

“He grabbed my nephew and told him to be quiet — he had a knife in his face. He kept asking him ‘Where is the money?’ but this is his second language. He didn’t have any.” Adding that she screamed in fear when the intruder came into her bedroom searching for money, the woman said her husband had wanted to confront the man, who had hidden his face with “some kind of mask”, wearing a heavy jacket and with white socks covering his hands.

“I told my husband not to. I said ‘This guy will kill you’.”

At one point she heard the intruder ask himself if he had the right house, the woman said.

The intruder grabbed her sister’s bag and fled, escaping with her passport, her tickets, and about $100. The family recovered the bag from outside and reported the matter to police.

“I feel so disappointed — I have lived here for years and this is the first time this has happened,” the woman said.

Her frightened family wanted to return home immediately, and her nephew was too frightened to go outside, even on to the porch, she said.

The Royal Gazette referred their case to Family Centre, which is seeking to provide counselling.