Brothers feared for lives in vicious attack
The raiders stole a substantial sum of money from the brothers and even pinched meat and milk from their fridge.
Jimmy, aged 83, and Neilie, aged 79, have severe bruises on their faces and hands but they are making a good recovery in Valentia Hospital, Co Kerry. However, the psychological scars of the attack may not heal as quickly and it could take weeks before the men return to their home, further back the island in Corabeg.
Three generations of the Sugrues have lived in the house the raiders wrecked on Tuesday night.
The brothers will try to make a gradual return: “It’s too early to stay there at night, but we might go back for a few hours later today,” said Neilie. The robbery left the tranquil island in shock and has served to remind that old people living alone remain vulnerable to vicious thieves.
Former Justice Minister and local TD John O’Donoghue described the incident as “atrocious”.
“It is absolutely appalling that this should happen to innocent people. In this day and age this should still not be happening.”
While these sentiments were reflected throughout the community, they will do little to erase the Sugrue brothers’ frightening memories of the callous raid.
Jimmy Sugrue had just gone to bed when he heard a noise coming from somewhere in the two-storey house. “I heard the noise a couple of times, I thought it was the wind.
"I was going to get up, to see was the door open, or was the lock off it or something,” he said. “The noise suddenly stopped and I didn’t bother going down. After a while, three men came up when I was dozing off.”
Jimmy, still visibly a strong man as he sits on a hospital bed, bravely tried to fight off his attackers.
“One of them jumped inside the bed and he hit me with a stick into the side of the face. My face was all bruised and covered in blood,” he said. “I threw him out over the bed. They had a big role of tape, but I burst past the two of them.”
The 83-year-old almost resisted the two men until a third man arrived and sat on his chest.
“Another fella came, he was a bit taller than them. The three of them sat down on me, I was knocked across the bed and they tied my hands with plastic stuff,” he said. “They tied my legs then. The three of them were around me and they dragged me down the stairs. I hit my head against the railing.
“I was kind of dazed since the first time I was hit with the stick. They kept hitting me and I was shouting mad for help. Every time I shouted I used to get a belt down on the head.”
Jimmy was hauled down the stairs and dumped in the same room as his brother.
A press was placed beside the door to prevent the brothers getting back into the kitchen. “I thought we were going to be there for days and he’d die of pneumonia on the floor. They had cut the telephone and the electricity and left us with nothing only a box of matches,” said Neilie.
The masked men told Neilie that if he made any move they would kill him.
The raiders searched all the upstairs rooms, broke down a door and threw everything around as they sought money.
Eventually Neilie got free and he found a scissors to cut the tape from Jimmy’s hands. The brothers then walked the quarter of a mile journey to their nephew, James’s, house.
Jimmy has vowed to return to the family home but admitted he will never forget the shock.
