Owners of cash businesses on alert after brutal assault

OWNERS of cash businesses are on heightened alert after a businessman was brutally assaulted in his home in front of his partner and children.

Gardaí have warned of the threat posed to owners of cash businesses, particularly in light of tighter security in banks and post offices and in the cash-in-transit industry.

A Garda team is conducting forensic tests in and around the home of the businessman, located in an area of north Dublin early on Saturday morning.

A gang of men burst into his large detached house in Castleknock in the early hours and subjected him and his partner to an ordeal lasting up to 20 minutes.

The man – who runs a painting and decorating firm and is a director of a construction company – was beaten around the head with an iron bar and a hammer as the gang dragged him around the house searching for cash.

Eventually they left, with less than €3,000 cash.

“This awful attack shows that anyone with cash as part of their business is liable to get attention from criminals,” said a Garda source.

He said it was clear the gang had targeted the businessman, believing, wrongly, that he had a significant amount of cash in the house. “This was not a random target,” he said.

He said forensic tests were being carried out in and around the house and that door-to-door inquiries would continue today.

Meanwhile, gardaí in the same Dublin West Region said their investigations into last Friday’s tiger kidnapping in Ballyfermot was progressing “particularly well”.

Armed gardaí arrested a man and recovered €100,000 during what is regarded as a successful response operation last Friday.

The 24-year-old suspect had his detention extended in court over the weekend for a further three days.

During the kidnapping, an employee of the Ulster Bank in Kimmage was forced to go to the branch and withdraw over €100,000 to secure the safe release of his partner.

Gardaí set up a detailed response once the man’s partner was released.

Five masked and armed men carried out the attack, but garda sources said they suspected more people were involved in the operation.

Garda sources said they had a “fair idea” who the suspects are and said the investigation was “going very well”. The gang is a well-known outfit based around the Crumlin area of south Dublin.