Raid gang ties up victims in savage rural attack

A MAN and two women were tied up during a what police described as a savage attack at their home in rural south Armagh.

Three masked men armed with a baseball bat broke into their house in the Carrive Road area of Silverbridge at around 9.45pm on Wednesday and demanded money.

The victims were bound during the ordeal.

Police are appealing for information

Stunned: Barra O Muiri about the aggravated burglary.

PSNI Investigating officer Detective Constable McCartan has urged anyone with information about the incident to contact police.

“Before leaving the house empty-handed, the man was beaten with a wooden bat and sustained injuries to his legs for which he was treated for at hospital,” he said.

“The man’s injuries are not believed to be life-changing at this time. While the two females were not physically injured, they have been left shaken by the ordeal. This was a savage attack on this man, and a frightening ordeal for the three occupants of the house.

“I am appealing for anyone who knows anything about this incident to contact detectives in Ardmore on the non emergency number 101.”

Local Slieve Gullion councillor Barra O Muiri told the Belfast Telegraph that the local community in south Armagh was stunned by the news of the brutal attack on the local family.

“Silverbridge is a quiet, peaceful rural area,” the Sinn Fein representative said.

“This is a dreadful ordeal for people to have had to go through.

Speaking of the widespread condemnation of the incident in the area, he said: “There’s no place in our community for the kind of people who would do this sort of thing,”

The Carrive Road, which runs close to the border with the Republic, links the rural community of Silverbridge with the village of Forkhill.