Armed gang terrorise family in house raid

Four armed and masked men broke into a house and terrorised the three occupants, including a mentally disabled woman.

The male owner of the house, his wife, and his disabled sister were attacked by the gang after they used sledgehammers to break into their home near the North Cork village of Kilbehenny at 11pm last Thursday.

Gardaí yesterday recovered balaclavas and gloves in the area, which they believe may have been used by the gang members, who are said to have spoken with Dublin accents.

The items will be analysed by forensic experts who’ll be hoping to find traces of DNA which will lead to their capture.

The male owner of the house, 59, sustained a minor gunshot wound to this leg, during the attack, which lasted 13 minutes.

He was hit a number of times and tied up, as were his wife and sister by the gang members who demanded money.

Gardaí said that one of them was armed with a sawn-off shotgun and another had a revolver.

A third member of the gang was armed with an axe and the fourth carried a fire extinguisher. During the course of the attack the gang fired three shots.

They then stole a small amount of cash and the male householder’s three-year-old English-registered wine- coloured BMW 320 diesel, which had a towbar on the rear.

Gardaí arrived at the scene shortly after the raiders had fled.

All three occupants of the house were later treated in hospital.

“They were naturally very traumatised by what happened. This was a particularly violent incident,” a Garda spokesman said.

Gardaí believe the vehicle they arrived in and the BMW travelled over the M8 flyover at junction-12, north of Mitchelstown — where they were spotted by the driver of another vehicle.

“We would be particularly interested in speaking to that driver and to anybody else who saw the BMW,” the Garda spokesman said.

“Part of its registration number was LB10. It may be stashed somewhere and we want to speak to anybody who has come across a car fitting this description.”

*Gardaí are appealing for anyone with information to call Mitchelstown Garda Station on (025) 84833.