DPP urged to appeal suspended term for ‘barbaric’ assault on pensioner

A pensioner left for dead after been attacked by burglars armed with knives and a sword, has called on the Director of Public Prosecutions to appeal the sentence imposed of one of the criminal gang, after he walked free from court.

Willie Creed, 76, was struck across the head and slashed across his arm during the “barbaric” attack on him, and his two sisters, Nora, 74, and Chrissie, 68, were hit over the head with flower pots, at their home on May 31, 2012.

William Gammell, one of three men involved in the horrific attack at the Creed’s isolated home in Ballyluddy, Pallasgreen, Co Limerick, was given a suspended five-year sentence on Wednesday.

Limerick Circuit Court judge Carroll Moran said he accepted that, without Gammell’s admissions, there would have been no case against him. Two other men who carried out the vicious assaults have yet to be brought to justice.

Speaking for the first time since the sentence was imposed, Mr Creed said he was “shocked” that the robber had escaped jail.

He also described how, two years on, the events of that awful night still haunt him, so much so that he feels sick everyday.

“I always take the hot water bottle to bed because I get the empty retching in my tummy,” he said. “That’s all since after getting the operation done. I had to get three and a half pints of blood.”

Mr Creed also revealed that Gammell, from An Cuirt, Monard, Co Tipperary, was related to him through marriage, and was a regular visitor. The other two suspects are also reportedly living nearby.

Gammell was the getaway driver for the other two gang members who entered the Creeds’ house wearing ski-masks.

The gang assaulted the siblings and tied them up, leaving them for dead in pools of blood, before stealing cash.

Mr Creed described how the horrific events of the brutal attack on him and his sisters still keeps them awake at night.

“I only close the eyes at night but you are still basically not asleep,” he said. “It would have a bad effect on you, too. You’d be feeling weak going around and all the bloody rest of it.”

A local woman added: “I know they keep shift watch at night so they can all get some rest. It’s horrendous.”

Mr Creed, who was hit on the head with a screwdriver and slashed across his right arm with a knife during the burglary, added: “I have bad effects after it. You have to take these sleeping tablets and they’d half kill you so I said I wouldn’t take them anymore.”

He said the entire village of Pallasgreen had supported him and his sisters throughout their ordeal.