An 84-year-old woman who was robbed at knifepoint alongside her 79-year-old brother on Sunday morning has spoken of the "awful fright" they received.
Mary O'Halloran was visiting her younger brother Gerry at his home on Boyce's Street in Gurranabraher on the north side of Cork city shortly after 7.30am yesterday when the aggravated burglary occurred.
She told the Opinion Line on Cork's 96FM, that it was a shocking experience.
However, Mary said she is now back at home whilst Gerry is still being treated at the Mercy University Hospital in the city.
“We got an awful fright. I’m not feeling too bad today just trying to get over it. Gerry is still in hospital. He was not hurt but is shaken, so they kept him in, and I went home as I’m looking after my sister as well. I go up to him (Gerry) every Saturday and Sunday morning. I get up early and get stuff ready for him for his home help.”
Mary said the burglar threatened them with a knife.
"He had a knife up to us, a long knife with a blade on it. He had it up to my throat and to Gerry’s as well because he wanted money off us. We couldn’t do anything else but to give it because he was going to stab us.”
The incident lasted an hour during which the thief cut the telephone line to the property and removed the bulbs out of the fitting in the front room.
“We got an awful fright, and it's only now you get all right after it. He had cut the phone line, and he took down three bulbs and shades in the front room. He took the lights down."
She added that Gerry has been left very shaken by the aggravated burglary.
"He’s afraid inside in the hospital. I was talking to him on the phone. The girl let me talk to him because you are not let into the ward, and he was still shaken - he told me”.
GoFundMe
Broadcaster PJ Coogan told Mary about the GoFundMe page set up to help ease their financial burden. She expressed gratitude and vowed to tell her brother all about it.
Listeners also heard that in addition to assisting her brother and a sister Mary regularly visited hospitals in Cork city to talk to lonely patients prior to the Covid pandemic.
Meanwhile, Mary went back to tidy up Gerry’s house today. She was initially unable to enter the house yesterday morning because the thief had the door blocked. Gerry shouted out at her to ring the guards and the burglar then 'shoved' her in.
The man who spoke with a Cork accent got away with €1,800 in cash. The alarm was raised by a home help who arrived shortly after the thief fled from the house.
Paddy O'Brien, who has been an advocate for the elderly in Cork for decades has described the incident as "an awful tragedy."
"Unfortunately these cases are happening throughout the country. Something has to be done. We want more Gardai on the beat in areas where there is a high concentration of elderly people."
