Sisters, 88 and 86, home after €100 robbery
Nellie, aged 88, and May Curtain, aged 86, from Kildimo, Moyasta, about 5km from Kilrush in west Clare, have been left shocked by their ordeal, which occurred late last Saturday night while they were in bed.
Up to three masked men entered their home and demanded cash while threatening the pair. The incident occurred between 10.30pm and 11.30pm, and while the women were not physically harmed, they were verbally abused and threatened.
The thugs, one of whom is believed to have had a knife, screamed “money, money, money” while ripping up floorboards and pulling stones from a wall in search of cash. In the end they left with just €100.
The elderly sisters live in a cottage which has no electricity or sanitation. According to one neighbour: “Their mother didn’t want electricity in the house and even after she passed away, the sisters didn’t bother with it either.”
Yesterday, neighbours were still at the cottage carrying out repairs ahead of the pensioners’ return from a nursing home in Kilrush, where they have been cared for since being released from hospital last Sunday.
The thugs smashed several lamps in the dwelling, leaving the frightened pair to walk nearly 100m to a neighbour’s house in pitch darkness to raise the alarm after the gang had left.
One neighbour said: “They are two very nice and independent women but they have been left very shaken by this. They never got out much and depended on a handful of people they know and trust to bring shopping to them and do other messages.
“It will take them a while to get over this. It’s shocking what has happened.
“They have never done anything to anyone. Whoever did this did it because they thought they had loads of money hidden in the house. They even used a small ladder to climb up and pull stones from the wall to see if there was cash there.”
The women own several acres of land which they let out every year to horse owners. The sisters have no relations in the local area and have no transport of their own.
Issuing a public appeal for information yesterday, Supt Gerry Wall of Kilrush said: “This is a callous and cowardly crime. Somebody locally who knows what happened here and who was involved in this crime; we want people to think back to Saturday night.
“Maybe they saw a car or somebody they wouldn’t normally see walking along the road at the time. Maybe they saw somebody in one of the local pubs who wouldn’t normally be there on a Saturday night. We would ask them to contact us in Kilrush with any information.”
Local parish priest Fr Gerry Kenny said: “This is not just an appalling attack on the elderly sisters but it’s also an attack on the values of the community, because people are so anxious that the sisters should be able to live in the safety of their own home and community.”
Anybody with information can contact Kilrush Garda Station on 065 9080550 or the Garda confidential number, which is 1800 666 111.
