Valentina Costa had the day off preschool because she felt unwell the morning an armed masked man entered their home.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Her mother was tied up and threatened with a knife at the family’s Millfield home in 2011.
Then four years old, Valentina waited for the man to leave, picked up a phone, dialled triple-0 and held the handset to her shaken mother’s ear while she spoke to police.
The daughter of former NSW treasurer Michael Costa spoke about the ordeal when Central Hunter police acknowledged her bravery yesterday.
“I was sick on the lounge and mum was playing with Mikos [her brother, then aged two] and suddenly we heard rattling at the door and there was a man,” she said.
“That’s all I remember until I called the police. I was thinking about mummy and how, when the police came, she would be able to feel better.”
Deborah Costa was home with her two children when Mark Noel Sheehan broke into the house, tied Ms Costa to a chair and threatened her with a 35cm blade knife.
He fled the scene in the family car and was arrested three weeks later at a campsite near the Costas’ home.
Sheehan is serving an eight-year jail term for the incident.
“The amazing thing was that she [Valentina] was able to move from that distressed state when I asked her to get the phone,” Ms Costa said.
“That was something I found remarkable, especially at that age.”