Gang hunt upped after attack on Kenny’s friend

The hunt for a criminal gang which has been terrorising rural householders in the west over the past two months has been dramatically stepped up following an attack on a personal friend of Taoiseach Enda Kenny in her Co Mayo home.

Businesswoman Regina Sweeney was attacked by masked men who burst into her home at Breaffy in Castlebar.

Mrs Sweeney, is the only daughter of the late Liam Coady, the Taoiseach’s former driver. She was recovering yesterday as the hunt continued for her attackers.

The young woman, the wife of a detective garda based in Castlebar, went downstairs to investigate around 5pm on Saturday last when she heard a “smashing noise”.

She was assaulted after she dashed to input a code into a burglar alarm at the foot of the stairs: “I was keying in the code when he came behind me... I had a long plait in my hair. He grabbed it and pulled out a clump of my hair. The man, who never uttered a word, pushed me forward again. I smashed into the wall. My head was cut when I connected with a wrought-iron coat hanger.”

All the time while this was going on there must have been others in the kitchen because I could hear smashing going on. When I eventually got into the kitchen part of the house it resembled a train wreck.

A significant sum of money was stolen from Mrs Sweeney in the raid.

Her attackers are members of a gang, travelling in a Subaru Legacy car, which has carried out dozens of raids on homes in Mayo, north Galway, Roscommon and Sligo, since September.

The Taoiseach’s spokes- person said yesterday “no stone would be left unturned” to bring the gang to justice.

One possibility now being explored is the use of the Garda helicopter which has rarely been used so far in criminal emergencies west of the Shannon.

The inability of gardaí in the west to catch the gang has highlighted the inadequacy of the existing garda patrol fleet as regards power and speed.

Up to 30 pursuing Garda cars failed to halt the speeding Subaru across a number of counties following the raid on the home of Mrs Sweeney.