A 10-year-old girl has bravely confronted and scared off two men who were attacking her mother in an aggravated burglary in Melbourne's north.
The 28-year-old single mother was woken by two masked men in her bedroom at her home in Dallas about 3.15am (AEDT) on Thursday, police said.
Her three children, aged 10, five and four, were in a nearby bedroom at the time.
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At one stage, one of the men held down her shoulders and the other held his hands over her nose and mouth.
During the commotion, the 10-year-old daughter emerged from the bedroom and yelled at the men: "leave my mother alone, get out of the house", police said.
Acting Senior Sergeant Andrew Lawrence, from the Broadmeadows CIU, hailed the girl's actions as heroic and said they most likely scared the men off.
"The little girl is very brave. She's acted instinctively and she's defended her siblings and her mother," he said.
He said the men did not speak during the burglary, no weapons were seen and police were still trying to find a motive.
"What we do know is that there were no threats, or demands made, apart from being physically held down there was no physical assault on her (and) we don't believe it was robbery motivated," he said.
Police also do not believe it was an attempted sexual assault, he said.
The woman told police the men appeared to be teenagers of Middle Eastern appearance with thin builds.
