A MOTHER has told how her two-year-old son was sitting next to a window at their home which was hit by a brick.
Natalie Williams said she was "terrified" when she heard the brick hit the glass while son Henry was sitting in his high chair in their Chaddesden home.
Partially-blind Mrs Williams, 28, grabbed Henry, whom she said was "screaming in terror" after the sudden attack.
Luckily, the brick only broke the outside pane of the double-glazed window.
She calmed him down and phoned husband Kevin, who drove home from work to make sure the pair were safe.
Mrs Williams said: "He was sitting in his high chair when the brick hit the window. It could have come through and hit him on the head.
"If that had happened, he might be in hospital with very serious head injuries."
The attack happened on Mr and Mrs William's house, in Bishopgate Square, at 11.50am on Saturday, December 8.
Mr Williams, 30, had left to go to his job as a security guard at a Tesco store in Nottingham, leaving Mrs Williams and their son alone in the house.
Mrs Williams said she had just placed Henry in his high chair to feed him when the brick struck the window.
She said: "There was this huge bang – it was terrifying. I lifted the blinds and I heard someone shouting, 'Come out here, you slag'.
"But when I looked out of the window, I couldn't see anyone.
"Henry was screaming in terror and I grabbed him to calm him down.
"Thankfully, we have double-glazing so only the outside pane was damaged and the brick bounced back into the front garden.
"But it could have come through both panes had it been thrown harder."
Mrs Williams said Henry had been born premature at 28 weeks and spent 14 weeks in the neo-natal ward at the Royal Derby Hospital.
She said in the three years she and her husband had lived at the house, they had never seen any trouble previously.
A police spokesman said officers were investigating the incident and linking it to an assault on a pensioner at nearby Sussex Circus, in Chaddesden, at 2pm the same day.
He said: "The man was helped to his feet by two men in the vicinity."
He said police arrested a 17-year-old youth but have bailed him following questioning.
Anyone with information is asked to contact PC Philip Harris on Derbyshire police's non-emergency number, 101.
