The Gardaí at Sligo Garda Station are investigating an aggravated burglary that occurred on Saturday, the 31st March 2012.
The house is situated in Coolteen, Drumfin, Co. Sligo. A local business man lives here with his partner and her child, who had just recently moved to Sligo from Bulgaria. She stayed in for the evening on Saturday, the 31st March, while her partner and son went to a Sligo Rovers match in the town.
Later that evening, at about 9.30pm, the woman was in the sitting room on her laptop catching up with friends on a social networking site. She heard the dog barking in the hallway and went to investigate. She got as far as the kitchen door where a man wearing a balaclava was standing. She attempted to run out the front door but the raider grabbed her and pulled her to the ground. He dragged the woman outside to the side of the house and forced her to sit down and keep her head down. It was at this point the woman noticed a second raider who appeared to have come from the back door. He was carrying two plastic bags. The two raiders were talking amongst themselves, the woman saw her opportunity to escape and ran out of the garden and screamed for help. She alerted one of her neighbours and contacted the Gardaí.
The raiders stole a substantial amount of money from the house and the woman’s Alcatel mobile phone.
Description of Raiders:
Raider 1: The first raider was six foot in height of muscular build, he wore dark clothes and a black balaclava, he had latex gloves on.
Raider 2: The second raider was smaller than the 1st raider, of thin build and appeared younger. He was also dressed in dark clothing.
Appeal:
• Anyone who was in the area of Drumfin on the night of this incident and may have witnessed anything suspicious, to come forward.
• Anyone who saw any suspicious vehicles in the area, to come forward.
• The injured party’s black Alcatel mobile phone was stolen and has not been recovered.
Gardaí at Sligo Garda Station are investigating Telephone 071 9157000
The Gardaí at the Bridewell Garda Station and Clondalkin Garda Station are re-appealing for information in relation to two separate attacks on women in September 2010 and September 2011. The attacks were a year to the week apart.
The Gardaí at the Bridewell Garda Station and Clondalkin Garda Station have carried out extensive investigations in relation to both assaults and as a result of these investigations, they now have a forensic link between the two incidents.
On the 18th September 2010 a woman was sexually assaulted in the grounds of an apartment complex on Arran Quay, Dublin 7. The woman had been out for the night and was returning home to her apartment when a man came up behind her, dragged her to the ground and sexually assaulted her.
One year later, on the 11th September 2011 another young woman was assaulted. This assault took place in Monastery Walk in Clondalkin, Dublin. The young woman was on her way home from an evening out with friends, when a man came up behind her and threw her onto the ground. He attacked her, causing significant injuries to her face. S he struggled against him and managed to get away.
Appeal:
• The Gardaí at the Bridewell Garda Station are looking to identify the man on the moped in Dublin’s Temple Bar, captured on CCTV footage and a man on arran quay.
• The Gardaí at Clondalkin Garda Station are looking to interview the male who passed the victim and said hello to her. This male wore a blue Italia Jacket.
• The victim in Clondalkin may have left marks on the attackers face and possibly a bite mark on his hand.
Gardaí at the Bridewell and Clondalkin Garda Stations are investigating Telephone 01 6668200 & 01 6667600
The Gardaí at Coolock Garda Station are re-appealing for information in relation to the attempted murder of Violet Quigley who was viciously attacked in her home on the 7th April 2011.
Just after 11.45pm on Thursday, the 7th April 2011 Violet was in bed in her home in Donaghmede Park, she woke up when she heard a noise in the house. When she looked up she saw a man standing in her bedroom. Violet was viciously attacked in her bed and received serious life threatening injuries. The attacker fled and Violet managed to make it to the front bedroom of her house and alerted her neighbours who contacted the Gardaí. There was no sign of forced entry in her home.
Thirty six hours earlier, at midday on Wednesday, the 6th April two men were seen going into Violet’s house through the front door. The two men were seen on a neighbour’s wall making their escape. They got into a black Opel Safira car which was parked on Donaghmede Road.
Appeal:
• Anyone who was in the Donaghmede Park area on the night of the 7th April into the early hours of the 8th April and may have seen suspicious activity
• The culprit would have had a large amount of blood stains on his clothing, did you see Violet’s attacker in the Donaghmede or surrounding area after this attack?
• Anyone with information in relation to this horrific crime to come forward and assist Gardaí to progress this investigation.
Gardaí at Coolock Garda Station are investigating Telephone 01 6664200
Gardaí are looking for the public’s assistance in tracing twenty three year old missing person Stephanie Glosse. Stephanie arrived in Dublin from Germany on Friday, the 30th March and there have been no sightings of her since.
Her family are extremely concerned for her safety and wellbeing.
The Gardaí at Sligo Garda Station are investigating three separate robberies from service stations in the county, over the course of a three month period.
On the 16th February 2012 at approximately 9.15pm at the Regional Stores garage in Ballinode, two males dressed in dark clothing and wearing balaclava’s entered the shop. One of the raiders was tall and was armed with a hammer, the second raider was armed with what appeared to be a gun and pointed it at a member of staff and demanded money. The raiders retreated and left empty handed. They made their getaway in a dark coloured Honda Accord, registration number 98SO2824. This car was recovered on fire at Fermoyle, Calry. This car was sold, legitimately, to persons using false names and addresses.
The second raid occurred at Collins Filling Station in Rathcormack on Monday, the 27th February. At approximately 8.55pm two masked and armed men entered the petrol pump attendant’s hut on the garage forecourt. One of the raiders was armed with what appeared to be a handgun. They threatened the member of staff and demanded money, they fled the scene with a small amount of cash. They made their getaway in a silver Opel Omega car, registration number 01MO5341 which was subsequently recovered burnt out near Glencar Waterfall. It transpired that this car was also purchased a few days before this incident by persons using a false name and address.
The third raid occurred at Parkes Garage in Ballisodare on Friday, the 16th March 2012 at approximately 9.05pm. A member of staff was working on the forecourt of the garage when a white Honda Civic, registration number 91D30985 pulled up and a male got out of the passenger carrying what appeared to be a sawn off shotgun. He entered the shop and demanded money. The raider pointed the gun at a member of staff who handed over a sum of money. The raiders fled the scene at speed. The vehicle was recovered at 12.30am at Dromiskoble, an attempt had been made to burn this vehicle.
Gardaí appeal for information in relation to these robberies
Gardaí at Sligo Garda Station are investigating Telephone 071 9157000
Gardaí at the Stolen Motor Vehicle Unit, National Bureau of Criminal Investigation wish to warn members of the public of the dangers of selling motor vehicles privately.
A FRAUDSTER is targeting individual sellers and buying their cars using counterfeit bank drafts. The vehicle is then immediately sold for cash, to innocent purchasers. The FRAUDSTER has posted adverts on the internet seeking ‘drivers’. The ‘drivers’ are instructed to collect the bogus ‘bank drafts’ (unaware of their status) at Hotel reception desks and go to the seller and buy his/her vehicle – paying by bank draft.
Other ‘drivers’ are instructed to collect the vehicles in Hotel car parks (the keys having been left at reception) and bring the vehicles to innocent purchasers who will have seen an advert on a car trading website advertising the said vehicle for sale. This purchaser will be instructed to pay cash for the vehicle. The ‘driver’ will collect the cash and then be instructed to bring it to a Hotel where it will be picked up by a 3rd party.
Gardaí wish to warn members of the public against the dangers of this scam and offer advice to legitimate buyers and sellers of cars.
Gardai at the Stolen Motor Vehicle Unit are investigating Telephone 01 666 3324
For video information on this scam please see
Burglary prevention is one of the main themes of the campaign, as well as focusing on Victim Support and Road Traffic Education.
Our efforts during the campaign will be focused on raising awareness amongst the public of effective crime prevention and community engagement advice in order to tackle incidences of burglary.
In 2011 there were 27,439 recorded burglaries and related offences within the state.
Many have the following characteristics;
• 1 in 4 burglaries are committed by thieves entering through an unsecured door or window. This figure rises in the summer to almost 1 in 3.
• Many burglaries 60% or more occur post noon. Late school runs and shopping trips are times of note.
An Garda Síochána will use all resources available to it to target these burglars. Operations around the country have already seen several arrests. An Garda Síochána encourages all home owners to partake in community alert or neighbourhood watch schemes to help combat the burglar.
www.garda.ie has dedicated crime prevention advice to help you avoid becoming a victim of burglary.
Maeve Ryan of the Crime Victims Helpline was in studio with Sergeant Kelvin Courtney and discussed the services available to victims of crime.