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"She feared raiders would rape and
kill her"
23.02.12
by Linda McGrory
A PRIEST today described how a close friend thought
she was going to be "raped and killed" last night
after three men burst into his parochial house and
stole a safe.
Fr Gerard Sweeney was saying Ash Wednesday Mass at
7.30pm in St Aengus Church, Burt, when the raiders
burst into his home next door and confronted his
friend.
The victim, who is in her 50s and from the North,
travelled to the parochial house earlier in the day
to help Fr Sweeney tidy up after he had had some
construction repair work done.
"Three men kicked the door down. They had a big
screwdriver and a couple of 8 inch screws and they
held those at her, threatening her," said an
emotional Fr Sweeney today. "She said the guy with
the screwdriver was particularly frightening. |
"They were dragging her
around the house saying 'where's the safe, you know
where the safe is, tell us and we won't hurt you'.
The thing is, she didn't know where the safe was.
"She thought they were going to rape her and kill
her because they weren't wearing masks. They were
constantly threatening her with the screwdriver."
Fr Sweeney said the raiders went from room to room
ransacking the place until they found a small safe
bolted to a shelf in his personal office. |
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Fr Gerard Sweeney surveys the damage
to his front door that was kicked in by the
three-man gang. |
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"They locked her in the
bathroom, and she's claustrophobic. They ripped out
the small safe," he added. The safe contained a cash
donation of €1,000 from the local graveyard
committee to buy new figurines for the Christmas
crib. It also had a €1,050 donation towards a new
church organ and around 500 euro in petty cash. A
Bank of Ireland euro chequebook in the name of Fahan
Parish and a personal First Trust Sterling
chequebook in Fr Sweeney's own name were also taken.
The chequebooks were cancelled today but the curate
urged people, especially shops, to be vigilant to
his cheques being passed in suspicious
circumstances. Spare church, car and motorbike keys
were also stolen. |
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Fr Gerard Sweeney clears up his
office after raiders ransacked his home in Burt on
Ash Wednesday. He shows one of the 8 inch screws
used by the gang to threaten his friend. |
Fr Sweeney, who is a
keen motorcycle enthusiast, said he intended to go
to the bank to lodge the money today.
He said he feels most upset for his friend. "She is
totally traumatised and doesn't want her name known
in case they go looking for her. She was only there
doing me a good turn, helping me clean up the
place."
The parochial house was forensically examined today
and the victim has been interviewed by Gardaí in
Buncrana. Fr Sweeney said his friend described her
attackers as "in their 20s with West of Ireland
brogues". "They kept trying to hide their faces but
because they were unmasked, she really thought she
was gone for."
The attack lasted about 30 minutes from around
7.15pm to 7.45pm with the victim locked up for about
20 minutes. Fr Sweeney returned from the chapel to
discover his friend in a traumatised state. He freed
her from the bathroom and contacted Gardaí. Fr
Sweeney urged anyone who was attending Mass in Burt
last evening and who may have seen anything
suspicious to contact Gardaí.
Superintendent Kevin English said: “We view this as
a very serious incident, where a defenceless lady
was subjected to such trauma. Every effort will be
made to bring the perpetrators of this crime to
justice.”
Supt English said Gardaí were investigating whether
there was a connection between the parochial house
raid and the theft of a car from the yard of a
garage in Dunmore, Carrigans, 14km away, at 10.30pm
last night. The stolen car, a grey VW Bora, was
found burnt out in Derry today. Anyone with
information on the raid should contact Buncrana
Gardaí on 07493 20540. |
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