Man allegedly tries to grab woman walking alone in same Galway area where child grabbed
It comes just two weeks after a four-year-old child was grabbed by a stranger in broad daylight which gardai are still investigating
Residents around one Galway area are on high alert after a man allegedly tried to grab a woman walking alone in the same Galway area where a child was grabbed just a fortnight ago.
It is understood that the woman was walking at Briarhill near Dunnes when the man came out of the bushes and tried to grab her.
Luckily, this was seen by someone driving in the area and they were able to get the woman to safety with the man fleeing the scene.
It comes only two weeks after a four-year-old kid was grabbed by a stranger in broad daylight while standing next to his mother at a bus stop which gardai are investigating.
The frightening incident took place on the Monivea Road in Ballybrit at around 2pm which Audrey Cronin says could have been “a parent’s worst nightmare come true” had she not been standing beside and holding onto her son Nathan when the man grabbed his pre-school bag strap and tried to pull him away.
The 43-year-old mam from Ballybane was waiting for the bus home after a day of shopping at Briarhill Shopping Centre with her little boy when “this creep grabbed Nathan out of nowhere”.
And now she says her son is terrified to even go to sleep asking every night since if “the bad guy is coming to get me”.
She told Galway Live: “When I first got to the bus stop, this man mumbled asking if the bus went to the city centre. He kept walking up and down the road and then started to get closer to us. No matter how much we moved, he was now starting to follow us.”
Once close enough, the man in question sprung forward and grabbed Nathan, holding on to his little backpack strap trying to pull him away from Audrey.
Thankfully she was positioned close enough to her son and was already holding onto him fearing that something was not right about the situation before the incident happened.
She said: “Once I pulled my son in close to me, the man immediately let go of the strap but continued to hang around the area and near us after. It all happened so fast.
“I rang the gardai immediately, giving my name and address and told them I wanted to give a statement at the house.”
As expected, this has not only shaken Audrey to her core as a parent but it has also affected her son terribly.
She continued: “I wanted Nathan to be here when they took the statement. Because any noise he has heard since the incident he keeps asking me ‘is the bad guy coming to take me?’.