THE first thing that came to mind when he was awoken by a stranger in his room in the middle of the night was the safety of his parents and his two-year-old sister.
Now, Jorden Oliphant, 13, is the hero of his family after he calmly dealt with a robber armed with a knife. It is believed the man gained entry to the family's second-floor Linton Grange flat through a bathroom window.
"It was 2.40am when I was awoken by someone. He said if I screamed and woke up my parents he would kill me. He had a knife and demanded that I show him the jewellery," Jorden said.
"I took him away from my parents' bedroom. Even though I was a little scared I stayed calm for the safety of my parents [Justin, 41, and Tracy, 39] and my younger sister [Eden, 2]."
He said he told the man they should look in the kitchen. His father's pants were on the sofa and the man allegedly took his dad's wallet and second cellphone.
"I told him to leave the wallet as there was no money in it. He then saw my phone and my father's watch. I also pleaded with him not to take the watch. He saw my father's video camera, which he also took. At this stage I told him to leave as there was nothing else he could take.
"I offered to open the door for him. He said I should follow him downstairs but after he walked out I slammed the door behind him. He tried to push it back and that is when I called my father."
The commotion roused Oliphant from his sleep. "I heard my son calling me, saying we had been robbed. I thought he was dreaming and when I went to calm him, he told me we had been robbed. I immediatelyjumped into my clothes and ran after the guy but there was not a sign of him. I called the police and they responded immediately," he said.
Oliphant, a filmmaker whose documentary Endangered Species captures the effects of gang violence in the city's northern areas, said he was proud of his son.
"I do work with the gangs but for someone to come and take from me and threaten my son's life is just another story. All I can say is that my son is my hero. He handled himself so well ... He thought about everyone else but himself," he said.
Oliphant said his son had been to see a psychologist yesterday.
A case of house robbery and attempted kidnapping has been opened.
