Hero gran hailed for saving children

An elderly woman whose home was attacked with a petrol bomb is being hailed for her quick thinking which probably saved the lives of her grandchildren.

Three children sustained injuries in the Thursday night incident at the Waterford City home of Nellie Halligan, with one of them undergoing surgery for burn damage yesterday.

A local criminal gang is being blamed for the attack on the end-of-terrace home at Ardmore Park in the Ballybeg area of Waterford, which led to 11-year-old Roisin Halligan sustaining serious injuries to her face, neck, arms, and legs.

Her one-year-old cousin Lexie suffered burn injuries while another cousin, three-month-old William, suffered smoke inhalation. Both were yesterday being treated at University Hospital Waterford while Roisin had to be taken to Cork University Hospital and is understood to have received skin grafts.

The incident happened just after 9pm on Thursday. Roisin and Lexie were watching cartoons on television in their grandmother’s front room when a petrol bomb was thrown through the window and exploded.

“Roisin saw Lexie on fire and threw herself on Lexie to put out the fire,” the girls’ aunt Linda said yesterday. “Roisin is very badly burnt.”

Nellie Halligan said she was in her kitchen at the time of the incident and heard another of her daughters running down the stairs, screaming.

“Roisin was saving the baby, but got the full blast,” a shaken Mrs Halligan said at her home yesterday.

“I always have an extinguisher alongside me, since the threats started coming out. I put out the biggest part of the fire and started shouting to the girls, ‘Will you get wet towels’... I had to do something.”

The furniture and carpets suffered extensive burn damage while her front window was smashed by the impact of the firebomb.

“The house isn’t bothering me. You can fix the house up, but you can’t fix the children up. As far as I know, Roisin is badly burnt, God love her. I done my best, otherwise the whole house was gone.”

She said she was “not too bad” but worried about her grandchildren. Roisin’s mother Sabrina, Lexie’s mother Anne-Maria, and William’s mother Ellen were all with their children yesterday as they received hospital treatment.

Lexie Halligan had just returned from Cork University Hospital earlier on Thursday, after having a procedure.

Mrs Halligan had 16 children but three sons passed away in recent years.

A daughter, Danielle, said the family have been targeted for intimidation through no fault of their own.

“Everything is destroyed, everything is burnt,” Danielle said of her mother’s sitting-room.

“Only for my mother got the fire extinguisher and put out the fire herself...”

She said a local gang is terrorising people. “It’s horrible, you’re living in fear every day, worrying about what is going to happen.”

A 23-year-old local man was arrested in relation to the incident on Thursday night and was being held throughout yesterday under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act. He can be held until early today.

Ardmore Park is a large local authority estate located a short distance from the Cork Rd on the edge of Waterford City.