Disabled mother and her daughter terrorised in home by gunman

A DISABLED mother and her daughter were terrorised by a lone gunman who broke into their home in Limerick yesterday afternoon.

The woman in her fifties, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, was tied up and locked into an upstairs bedroom of her home in Newtown, Castletroy, while the attacker dragged her daughter around the house demanding money.

The attacker continually put a handgun to her head, saying both she and her mother would be shot if they did not tell him where they kept their money.

While locked in the upstairs bedroom, the mother managed to free herself and telephone gardaí.

A garda patrol car, which was in the area, was at the scene in minutes and caught the gunman as he tried to run from the scene.

The man, believed to be Eastern European, was being held under Section 4 of the Offences Against the State Act in Henry Street last night.

The gun, which was recovered near the scene, may be a replica. A garda spokesman said: “the women were very traumatised and shaken.” The man wearing a hooded jacket, burst in to the house at around 4pm after one of the women answered the front-door bell.

Meanwhile, two other people were being held in Mayorstone Garda Station on the other side of the city after day-long garda raids in the Moyross area.

Cannabis and cocaine with a street value of about €500,000 and a .22 rifle with telescopic sights were found in waste ground.

Seven houses were raided by up to 30 gardaí in the operation, which went on until about 4pm yesterday. Garda sources said the operation was mounted following a number of recent incidents involving rival drugs gangs in Moyross.

The two arrested people, one a woman, are being held Under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.