Magician Barry's grandfather dies after Waterford attack

The grandfather of magician Keith Barry has died in hospital from injuries he sustained during a burglary at his home in Waterford last week.

Eighty-four-year-old Paddy Barry suffered serious head and facial injuries when he was attacked by three men who called to his home on Mount Sion Avenue last Wednesday evening.

He had been unresponsive since the attack and died in hospital at 5.30am today.

A post-mortem will be carried out to determine whether he died as a direct result of his injuries.

A man who was arrested by gardaí in relation to the incident was arrested and released. A garda spokesman said a file has been prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Mr Barry had lived in the Mount Sion Avenue area of Waterford for 60 years.

At the time, his devastated grandson Keith, who has staged sell-out shows in Las Vegas, hit out at the justice system and said other pensioners living in the quiet part of the city were petrified.

He called for mandatory three-year prison sentences for criminals who break into pensioners’ homes.

“I think anybody who enters a pensioner’s home uninvited – that’s anybody over 65 – it should be a mandatory sentence, without bail, without excuses,” said the entertainer last week.

“These thugs have no fear. They have no fear for the law, they have no fear for the justice system and they have no fear of us in our homes.”

Gardaí have appealed with anyone with information to come forward.