Mother attacked and robbed by babysitter while son watched

WILTON MANORS, Fla. (WSVN) -- Police have arrested two robbery suspects, including a babysitter, accused of beating up a mother and leaving her 6-year-old son bound and gagged.

Police said 22-year-old Janette Martinez and 23-year-old Fernando Gaston Jr. pistol-whipped Britney Paines, as her 6-year-old son watched Saturday night at Paines' home on Sixth Avenue and Northeast 27th Street. Police said it was all for $200 and some jewelry.

Paines said she was caught off guard because she knew the female attacker, who she said baby sat her son. "Well, that just goes to show that you can't trust anybody," Paines said. "I had a copy of her ID. I knew her mom. We all went to the same church, you know. She's like the last person I would have ever thought, in my whole life, would actually do something like that."

Both suspects were picked up by police and arrested at a home in Homestead. They were later taken to the Miami-Dade County jail where they are facing charges of home invasion and kidnapping. They are expected to be later transferred to Broward County jail. 

The experience proved horrifying for the young son who was asleep when he said Gaston Jr. began taping him up. "I was kind of sleep talking when he was taping me up, and he said, 'Don't scream,' so I didn't scream," said Tabian Fehrenbach.

For a young boy, Fehrenbach proved he could stay calm under pressure. The little boy was able to break free from the tape wrapped around his arms and legs and rushed to the aid of his mother in the next room who laid in a pool of blood. "I really thought for a good second that I was going to die," Paines said, "so I just laid there, and I prayed."

Police also noted that Paines was bound when she was beat up. "She was struck over the head with a gun and pistol whipped a little bit," Wilton Manors Police detective David Jones.

The mother said she was happy to be alive and that her young son was not hurt after surviving an ordeal that could have ended with her death. "He pretty much cocked a gun and said if I screamed or said anything out loud he was going to kill me," Paines said, "so I didn't say anything. He started hitting me with the gun, laid me on the ground and started beating me in the head. After they taped me and everything and they took what they wanted, they said my son would be OK, but I wouldn't be breathing to tell the story." 

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