Elderly couple 'living in fear' after attack in own home

A distraught pensioner told how ‘priceless’ wedding rings were stolen and never recovered in a horror attack that has left her and her husband ‘living in fear’.

Winifred Herrity and her husband, Michael, were attacked by Krystyna Gasperowicz in their home at Coolboy, Letterkenny on June 14, 2020.

Gasperowicz, who appeared before Letterkenny Circuit Court, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm and robbing the couple and will be sentenced later this week.

At the time of the attack, Mrs Herrity was 73 and husband 70.

Detective Garda Darren Carter told Counsel for the State, Ms Patricia McLaughlin BL, that Gardaí received a report of a burglary from ambulance control at 7.37am on June 14, 2020.

When Gardaí arrived at 7.50am, they met with Mr and Mrs Herrity who were being attended to by paramedics.

Mr Herrity told Gardaí that he heard a noise in his room, but ‘passed no heed’. He said he was alert, but not fully awake when someone started wrestling with him.

Gasperowicz grabbed Mr Herrity by the nose, squeeing it closed, and covered his mouth with her other hand. Gasperowicz hit Mr Herrity across the head with a cup or a glass and he called out for his wife.

When Mrs Herrity came into the room, believing her husband to be having an asthma attack, Gasperowicz hit her over the head with a radio.

Mrs Herrity fell to the ground. “I thought she was dead,” Mr Herrity told Gardaí in a statement.

Mr Herrity handed Gasperowicz his wallet, which contained €900 in cash which he intended to use to have work done around the house.

Gasperowicz took Mrs Herrity’s wedding ring, engagement ring and an eternity ring, as well as her bank card. Mobile phones belonging to the couple were also taken.

“They were priceless,” Mrs Herrity told investigating Gardai. Mrs Herrity said she believed Gasperowicz was going to kill her during the terrifying ordeal.

When Mrs Herrity, with the aid of crutches, got himself to the living room, Gasperowicz gave him a cloth to attend to a bleeding wound on his head.

The couple were taken to Letterkenny University Hospital for treatment. Mr Herrity had a 3-4cm laceration on his forehead, which was bleeding heavily and he was choked and suffocated.

Mrs Herrity had a small laceration to the left side of her head and had generalised pain all over, particularly to the ring finger of her left hand.

During door-to-door enquiries, Gardai were informed that a second property, owned by Mr Denis Sweeney, was broken into.

Crime scene investigators found a black face mask in the Herrity home while a neighbour told how a woman matching Gasperowicz’s description had came to the house at 9.15am and asked them to ring a taxi.

Gardaí established that Gasperowicz was taken to the Glencar Shopping Centre. CCTV footage was viewed and Gasperowicz identified.

When Gardaí called to Gasperowicz’s home, she initially refused to allow them access. Gardaí subsequently located clothing, the same as the woman in the footage, along with €480 cash in a washing machine.

After her arrest, Gasperowicz made admissions in a third interview with Gardaí.

Detective Garda Carter said that Gasperowicz was taken to an area near to the Herritys’ home where she had discarded items. The mobile phones were recovered and damaged, but the rings and other items were not recovered.

Mr Michael Herrity told in a victim impact statement how he is living in fear

“You should always feel safe in your own home,” he said. “My home is not what it used to be. The doors are kept locked all the time. If anyone comes to the door now, I open the window first to talk to them.

“The cuts and bruises have healed, but the memory of that morning will never heal. The feelings of fear and panic are never far away.”

In a victim impact statement, Ms Winifred Herrity said she had been left traumatised by the incident and her life will ‘never be the same again’.

“I have lived in my home for 48 years and never once felt afraid, but all that has changed,” Ms Herrity said.

“Gone is the carefree and peaceful life and I now live in fear. Every stranger who calls or noise that I hear fills me with fear.

“I live in constant fear. I replay it over and over and I will never get over it. I spent my days living in fear.”

Barrister for Gasperowicz, Mr Shane Costello, SC, said his client, a 36-year-old mother-of-two felt ‘great shame’ over the incident.

“Obviously this has had a very grave affect on Michael and Winifred Herrity, who should be entitled to enjoy the peace of their own home,” Mr Costello said.

“This is a very serious crime with major consequences.”

In the days prior to the attack, Mr Costello said Gasperowicz was ‘spiralling ever further out of control’ and was taking amphetamines ‘hourly’.

“She appears to have entered into a psychotic state,” Mr Costello said. “She begun to have auditory and visual hallucinations. She thought that animals were speaking to her and thought that she was being directed to do certain things.

“She has no clear or good reason as to how she decided to break in. She simply cannot identify herself as the person who committed these crimes.”

Gasperowicz, Mr Costello said, had been diagnosed with a recurrent depressive disorder and post traumatic stress disorder.

“She can’t make right the trauma she has caused,” Mr Costello said. “She understands fully just how awful the crime she committed was. All she can do now is to apologise for her behaviour.”

Mr Costello said the death of Gasperowicz’s mother and the death of her younger sister had affected his client, who became ‘heavily reliant’ on amphetamines.

“She seems to have felt that she was walking around in a haze,” Mr Costello said. “She still managed to call 999 to get an ambulance and she gave one of them a towel to stem bleeding. This is a feature of her personality underneath drugs and the mental health issues.”

A report placed Gasperowicz at a ‘moderate’ risk of reoffending, the court heard and the accused has now begun treatment, which she finds ‘helpful’.

Judge John Aylmer adjourned the matter until this Friday, October 21, for the purpose of sentencing.