Arrest over Ballinasloe circular saw incident that left family 'traumatised'

Video footage circulating on social media shows a man using a circular saw and threatening Dr Raheel.

Gardaí in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, have confirmed that one arrest was made following an incident in which members of a family were left "traumatised" by a man allegedly attempting to cut through the front door of their house with an electric saw in an apparent attempt to evict them.

The man has been arrested for an alleged offence contrary to the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997 and is detained at a Garda station in Co Galway under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984.

Dr Muhammed Raheel, his wife and two children, had been living in the apartment in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, for three years when the incident took place.

The surgeon, who moved from Pakistan six years ago, said the incident arose due to a rent payment dispute.

Video footage that circulated across social media showed a man using a circular saw and appearing to threaten Dr Raheel with the power tool.

Dr Raheel told the Irish Examiner  that his entire family was at home during the incident, and that his wife was left “traumatised".

“Since the incident on Monday, two Garda officers arrived to our house on Tuesday afternoon and were apologetic and have since taken a report from us," he said.

Rent disagreement

Dr Raheel claims a rent disagreement evolved after monthly payments of €600 began bouncing back into the surgeon’s account in August 2022.

“I tried to contact [the landlord] every month and kept the money aside so that I would have it there when he got in touch. There was no contact, I could not reach him on the phone,” Dr Raheel said.

“I didn’t hear from him for months. And then on March 28, I was in the operating theatre when my wife called me to say that someone was drilling outside and was breaking into the house. She was with our children.” 

“I left immediately and came to see a locksmith who was outside the house trying to change the locks. He was told no one was at home.

“The landlord later showed up and started saying, 'where is my rent?' I tried to explain that the rent kept bouncing back, but he said he had changed bank accounts. Gardaí were called to the scene and were able to de-escalate the situation.” 

Bank statements seen by the Irish Examiner show payments made by Dr Raheel to the landlord’s bank account from August until January.

Dr Raheel claimed the landlord wanted him out of the house, but that he had not received any formal notice to quit.

Speaking about the incident on Monday, Dr Raheel said:

My wife was inside the house. She was traumatised, she was shouting at me, saying to come back inside. My children were inside the house as well.

Following the incident, Dr Raheel says he has been staying at home with his family because “he did not want to go anywhere".

A spokesperson for the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) told the Irish Examiner that “a valid notice of termination must be issued in order to end a tenancy. Any other means used to attempt to end the tenancy are invalid and unlawful.

“An unlawful termination of tenancy through force, intimidation or otherwise denies a tenant from accessing a rented dwelling or removes the tenant’s belongings from the dwelling. The RTB can intervene to maintain the tenancy and in some cases can seek an injunction to have the tenant reinstated.

“The unlawful termination of a tenancy is a significant concern and one which the RTB takes very seriously.” 

The spokesperson said they “cannot comment on individual cases".

 The Irish Examiner has contacted the landlord for comment.