A GANG of men used a hammer to smash their way into a family home in what has been described as “the most appalling attack”.

Feliciano Mendes and four ‘friends’ left a mother and her two daughters “terrified” when they stormed into her Kinson home armed with weapons, a court heard.

When police arrived at the scene, the children were at the windows shouting for help while the mother was so scared she had wet herself.

Mendes, 19, appeared at Bournemouth Crown Court on Thursday, December 7, charged with aggravated burglary with intent to cause criminal damage.

Prosecuting, Tom Wright told how the victim had been at home with her two daughters when she heard a male voice shouting ‘police’ outside her front door.

Realising it wasn’t an officer, she refused to open the door prompting the person outside to start “kicking at it”.

A man then began “smashing at the kitchen window with a hammer” before climbing through and letting in another four men.

The mother ran to another room while her daughters barricaded themselves inside a bedroom and called the police.

She described hearing a male shout “get her, let’s f***ing kill her”, before seeing men with a knife and hammer “coming through the door” of the room she was in.

A man, who she identified as being Mendes, then broke into the room and stole her phone from her.

In a victim personal statement, the woman described how there were high-value items in the house, but the men ‘wanted her’.

When police arrived at the scene they found blood on surfaces and damage to windows and doors at the house. 

Mendes, of Redriffe Road in Stratford, pleaded guilty to the offences committed on May 5, despite disputing some of the facts of the case.

The defendant reported he had been staying at the house in Kinson for ‘a few nights’ but left after an argument.

He said he returned to the property with friends to try and get some of his belongings back.

While Mendes accepts being in the house and accepts there was a hammer involved, he maintains it was not him who smashed the window to get in. 

The defendant has a string of previous convictions including for robbery, handling stolen goods, criminal damage, possessing an offensive weapon and conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

Mitigating, Ella Crime, said: “Mendes is an immature 19-year-old who has a very teenage attitude to risk.

“He has difficultly in understanding the consequences of his behaviour and the impact it has on those around him.

“He was said to be the victim of a violent kidnapping before the incident [on May 5].

“The defendant has made a series of poor decisions, but in my view, he has been groomed by gangs in the past, and has got in far too deep.

“This is a teenager who should still have a chance.”

Judge Susan Evans KC said: “It was an absolutely terrifying incident for those in the house.

“The daughters rang 999. They believed their mum was being attacked. It was clear from that call just how terrified they were.

She described it as the most appalling attack by five people acting together.

Mendes has been sentenced to 62 months in a young offender’s institute.