Death of 'the best neighbour' Tom Niland met with shock, sadness, and relief in Sligo
Tom Niland, Pensioner who was attacked at his Co.Sligo home.
A quiet man who lived a quiet life, 75-year-old Tom Niland will be remembered as “the best neighbour” by his local community in rural west Sligo.
He died in Sligo University Hospital on Saturday from injuries sustained during a violent assault at his home last year.
As news spread from early morning of his death, neighbours and family who had been maintaining vigils by his bedside over the past 20 months spoke of a mixture of shock, sadness, and relief that his suffering was finally over.
The retired farm worker suffered severe injuries when a gang of masked men forced their way into his small bungalow and attacked him in Doonflynn, Skreen on the main Sligo to Ballina road on January 18, 2022.
He was beaten and robbed and just managed to crawl across the road to his neighbour of 40 years Anna Calpin before collapsing.
He was only recognisable by his voice. While he survived the initial attack, a sudden deterioration in his condition left Tom paralysed from the neck down. He would spend the next 20 months in intensive care unit (ICU), on a ventilator, unable to breath independently, walk, or talk.
“I was shocked when I heard,” said James McLoughlin of Skreen Dromard Community Council.
“I knew he was in decline and the prospects weren’t good. He’s about 20 months suffering. He was just motionless in the bed,” he told the .
Tom had been moved out of ICU and into a 24-hour section of the stroke unit at Sligo University Hospital in recent weeks where staff cared for him round the clock.
His inability to breathe, cough, or swallow meant that every time he needed to clear his throat, medical staff had to insert a suction tube into his throat, a procedure which caused him severe discomfort.
“His face would go purple when phlegm built up in his throat, he would contort in pain during the suction process.
“You could be with him for 10 minutes, that would happen after five minutes, and you’d have to leave the room for the medical staff to carry out the procedure.
“And then it could happen all over again five minutes later. It was excruciating to see him endure that,” his cousin, Michael Walsh, explained last week.
Despite his injuries, it was his strong heart that kept him alive for so long according to doctors. “They said he had the heart of a 30-year-old,” said Michael.
Michael had sourced a mini TV and attached it to Tom’s bedside table for him to watch his beloved soaps. “That’s how he knew what time the burglars attacked, he had been about to or was just finishing watching ,” said Michael.
Neighbour Anna Calpin described him last January as “the best neighbour ever.”
“He was a gentle giant. A quiet man living a quiet life. But he had a life.
“He worked over in Kilgallon’s [farm] for 54 years. Then he retired, he was in the men’s sheds, he would go on bus tours for the old folk, he would go to town, he did most of his shopping in Colleary’s, all the bread men and delivery men are always asking about him.
“And he loved that,” she said.
A post-mortem examination will take place on Monday.
Three men currently before the courts charged with assault causing serious harm, false imprisonment and aggravated burglary with a knife are due before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Tuesday.
They include Francis Harman, 55, of Nephin Court, Killala Road, Ballina, Co Mayo; John Clarke, 34, of Carrowkelly, Ballina, Co Mayo; and John Irving, 29, of Shanwar, Foxford, Co Mayo.
Harmon and Clarke both pleaded guilty to the charge of assault causing serious harm at a hearing in Dublin on May 25 and were remanded in custody on the other two charges to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court this week.
Irving is due to stand trial on all three charges at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Tuesday.
All three men have been in custody since their arrest on March 9, 2022.
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