Woman dragged along road in botched robbery

Three women and two men were arrested today after a 60-year-old woman was attacked and dragged along the road by a car during a botched robbery.

The victim, who had treatment for minor injuries, was followed in her car this morning after withdrawing money from an ATM at a Tesco filling station in Cork.

When she pulled away from the premises on the Model Farm Road in Ballincollig at around 10.15am, the woman noticed she was being followed by the five-strong gang in another car.

She pulled into a residential area at Chelmsfort before stopping for her own safety, but the two men in the car following her, got out and attacked her.

“They falsely accused her of crashing into them and grabbed her handbag before getting back into their car,” said a Garda spokesman.

“She leaned in and caught a hold of her handbag before it pulled off, dragging her a short distance along the ground.”

The strap on the bag broke and the gang drove away empty-handed.

Gardaí were alerted and a marked patrol car from Gurranabraher and an unmarked car from Togher chased the gang to Mardyke Walk, Sundays Well.

Five people, all aged in their mid-20s, were arrested there and taken to Togher and Gurranabraher garda stations.

They are being detained under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.

The victim was treated by a local GP.