Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
GARDAÍ ARE HUNTING a three-man gang who terrorised and robbed a pensioner in her home last night.
The gang entered the elderly woman’s house in Galbally, Co Limerick, around 11pm last night.
Gardaí have sent out a text alert to surrounding communities warning them of the incident and to be vigilant of any suspicious activity.
One of the three men was masked, gardaí said.
They demanded cash however it’s unclear how much they got away with.
“They held her in the house until they left,” said a Garda source.
“The victim was not hurt,” they added.
Gardai at Bruff are investigating, and have appealed for information.
The burglary follows another robbery of an elderly woman in the west of the county, in which a gang masquerading as workmen stole hundreds of euro from their victim.
The woman in her 80s was so terrified the gang would return to her house that she didn’t alert the Gardaí for a number of days.
“They left with the money for the job, and they took another amount of cash from the house,” a source said.
The woman did not want to be identified out of fear the gang would return to her home.
They are too afraid to be identified. They didn’t even want to report it to the garda they were so in fear.
Need for policing
Former detective garda Sean Lynch, who was part of the force in Limerick which toppled the city’s main criminal gangs, has called for the reopening of rural garda stations to help tackle burglaries.
“We need to put policing back into rural Ireland… There is huge neglect in the Garda presence in rural parts,” he added.
Al Fitzgerald (39), who runs his own construction company in Knocklong, Co Limerick, said he had been robbed several times but he has stopped reporting the crimes to gardaí.
“I’m a victim of crime but I’m not bothering to report it now,” he said.
Recently, at a house I am refurbishing, all the windows were broken and the roof slates were stolen. I didn’t report it because of the lack of garda resources.
Hitting out at cutbacks to An Garda Siochana, he said:
It’s not the garda’s fault; they just don’t have the manpower.
The security of the State should never have been compromised during the recession, and you don’t have to be up on the plinth of Leinster House to know that.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Was that not last weeks news?
Yes it did the rounds last Wednesday
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/08/iphone-5-lost-at-bar/
If I was a cynic I would suggest that apple are handing their prototypes over to the offices biggest piss head before a launch in the knowledge that he will loose it at a bar and create controversy. I love the thought that it was the same guy who lost it last year. "How many chances do we have to give you Bob?"
I know where they’ll find it…. in any phonestore…under the name Samsung Galaxy S II.
How could that be?
The Samsung Galaxy SII (apart from all of its different features, such as an antenna that works, face that doesn’t shatter when dropped from 12″, weighs less than 34lbs, has a screen bigger than a stamp) has already been launched, whereas the iPhone 5 is still in production.
Anyway does *anyone* really know what an iPhone actually looks like – any I’ve ever seen have been enclosed in massive rubber/plastic protective cases.
Holy sh**! Apple have now for the same search and sieze powers as customs? Apple Stormtroopers??
One big pr stunt for apple.loose iphone once is a mistake.But twice is a joke.
for a week old story, this is missing allot of the main points. there are questions over whether the apple employees were impersonating police officers, whether the Apple employees were bullying the residents by questioning their legal status in the states, why the police initially denied the event, why the police acted without a report being filed and why have they gone to such an extent to assist Apple, when it is very unlikely the same treatment would be givin if for instance samsaung has lost one of their phones in a pub. also, this is the second time Apple have lost a prototype phone in a pub… neither were stolen, yet Apple treats people who find them as criminals.
In Ireland anyway if you find something and don’t hand it over to the authorities they it is a criminal offense.
Top marks to Apple’s PR company! Get everyone talking about the new product weeks before it’s launched. Simples!
I’m just astonished about the amount of people who can’t spell the word "lose".
Why? Have a look at all the "they’re, there, their" no one seems to have a clue in Ireland which one is which.
Publicity stunt any1 working for apple would not be stupid enough to lose something that valuable in a bar
Two guarantees in life, after death and taxes, every new U2 album will be "leaked" and every new iPhone will be "lost in a bar".
have your say