Brave victim, 82, asks how 'strong men' can prey on elderly

A trembling 82-year-old Cork woman brought a courtroom to a standstill as she asked how the big strong men who told her they were robbing her could do what they did to old people or any people.

Eileen Kiely, of Glasheen, Cork, asked in the witness box of courtroom 5 at Cork District Court: “How would they like it if their mother was robbed like that? Or any one of their family? I am sorry for them. I am sorry for strong men like that to carry on like that to old people or any people.”

There was absolute silence in the room as the pensioner, wearing her raincoat and white woollen hat, said: “They should not. They should not.”