Garda suffers injuries at hands of burglars for second time in 4 years

A young garda has suffered serious head injuries for a second time at the hands of burglars.

Garda Karen Duffy escaped with her life after teenage burglars slammed their stolen car into the door of her patrol car yesterday, inflicting deep cuts to her face and head.

The early morning incident in Swords, north Dublin, comes four years after Garda Duffy’s car was rammed by burglars on nearby Malahide Rd.

Garda Duffy, aged in her 20s, underwent surgery at Beaumont Hospital yesterday. Gardaí said while her injuries were serious, they were not life-threatening.

The gang of four youths continued on a spree of burglaries after hitting Garda Duffy. Two of them, both juveniles from Ballymun, were subsequently arrested. Gardaí are hunting the other two gang members.

“They didn’t care, they were pure reckless,” said a Garda source. “If the garda had stepped out another inch or two she could have been killed”

Garda Duffy, stationed in Swords station, suffered injuries to her head, neck, and back four years ago when her patrol car was rammed by a Mercedes, stolen during a burglary.

She was awarded €10,000 damages for the incident, which occurred on May 24, 2009.

In that case, she and colleagues used their patrol car to stop the driver speeding towards the M1 motorway the wrong way.

In another violent incident, in Feb 2012, Garda Duffy was headbutted in the mouth by a football coach after she intervened in a row in a pub in Swords.

Yesterday’s incident began at 3.25am when gardaí received calls from residents in the Cian Lea estate in Swords in relation to men acting suspiciously.

The patrol car carrying Garda Duffy arrived within minutes. “She alighted to check out the car and at that stage the car came at her and hit the door,” said a Garda source.

Gardaí, assisted by the Air Support Unit, tracked down the car to Talbot Hall, a short distance north of the Cian Lea estate. The Nissan had been stolen in Santry.

Gardaí arrested two youths and detained them under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.