Shock as Offaly man's house is robbed during mother's wake

Gardaí are investigating after a man's house was robbed in Offaly during his mother's wake this week. 

Martin Keogh has offered a reward for information on the burglary after he disturbed the thieves in the act at his house in the Derries on the Rathangan Road out of Edenderry. 

Martin was returning from his mother's wake at Larkin's Funeral Home after the sad death and was left sickened after discovering two men escaping from his home.

The incident happened shortly before 9pm on Tuesday, March 1. 

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Gardaí told the Offaly Express that "a sum of cash was taken from the premises in the course of this incident." Martin confirmed to us that money belonging to him and his sons was taken in the break-in.

No injuries were reported and no arrests have been made.

Mr Keogh said the men must have "escaped across the field and into a car" and made a getaway. He told us the house had been ransacked, including some of his late mother's belongings. 

"We were all coming home and I startled them," he explained.

"I was coming down the lane and one of them jumped out the window.

"Another one was waiting for him at the gable end of the house and then the two of them jumped out and ran up behind the house."

The former Edenderry footballer immediately informed the gardaí and said a garda helicopter quickly circled over his house soon afterwards.

"Fair play to the guards," he said, who responded quickly. Martin looked for the culprits around the back of his house and the nearby lands but to no avail.

He also suggested that these types of burglaries around the time of funerals are becoming a trend around Edenderry.

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"This is not the first time this has happened around the town in the last fortnight or three weeks," he explained. He went on to mention another incident at a house on the far side of the town during a separate funeral within the last two weeks.

Expressing his anger, Martin said: "You have to be a right scumbag to rob someone's house the night you're burying your mother or father. It's not your average run of the mill thing.

"My mother had been living with us here and we hadn't touched or moved her stuff since she died and they just pulled it around the room; just ransacked the place, turned beds upside down and everything," he added.

Martin is so determined to see the men responsible apprehended that he said he will "offer a reward" to anyone who comes forward with information leading to their arrests.

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He said people can give the information to him or the guards and that any information passed through him would be kept in confidence and "passed onto the guards anyway." 

"No matter how small the information is, just let me know," he appealed.

Gardai have said their investigations are ongoing into the matter.