Limerick slash hook attack was over a jar of change
IN A CRIME that has shocked Limerick, a pensioner was awoken in the dead of night and attacked with a slash hook.
And it was all over a jar of change totaling a couple of euros, the Limerick Leader can reveal.
It is also understood he was told by the assailants that “he would be shot”.
The man, aged in his 70s, was disturbed by a noise coming from the downstairs of his Kilmallock home at around 5am last Saturday morning.
Garda John Finnerty said the elderly man went downstairs and discovered a burglar wearing a balaclava.
“The owner confronted the burglar and chased the burglar out of his house and out onto the driveway. Waiting outside was another burglar who was armed with a slash hook.
The owner of the house got into a physical altercation with this burglar,” said Garda Finnerty, who added the owner of the house was injured multiple times on both arms and had to be hospitalised.
A jar of small change was dropped during the altercation by the perpetrators – one is described as tall and slim, the other short and overweight.
Acting Bruff Superintendent, Inspector Pat Brennan said all resources available will be utilised to apprehend the culprits. He confirmed they are “following some definite lines of enquiries”.
Cllr PJ Carey said this was the culmination of a “major spate of burglaries” in the wider Kilmallock area.
“He is a lovely man that has been plagued like many others. Locals are disgusted. He has been robbed a few times. There has been a big escalation in burglaries. In a separate incident in Kilmallock last month the Leader reported about the theft of shot gun cartridges. Two weeks earlier they robbed the shot gun and then came back for the cartridges. That will tell you how brazen they are,” said Cllr Carey.
Three years earlier Kilmallock farmer Tom O’Donnell was left for dead after he was punched and knocked unconscious as he moved his cows across the road.
He said at the time: “The minority are intimidating the majority.” Cllr Carey has spoken to a number of victims of crime who want a meeting with gardai and TDs. He also called for increased garda patrols to help prevent people “living in fear