MUM’S TERROR AT SEX ATTACK AS SHE SLEPT
I screamed, he ran away, I started screaming for my son. I was shaking Woman tells of ordeal after being woken by intruder with hands in her pyjamas
A MUM has told of her horror after she was awoken by an intruder who had his hands inside her pyjamas.
Linda Hegarty said she screamed for help when targeted by the man in her bedroom in Cork.
The mum of three believes he gained entrance through a window in her daughter’s room, adding the locks on several doors at her council property in Gurranabraher are faulty.
She said: “I woke up and started screaming, he had his hand down the front of my pyjamas.
“I screamed, he ran away, I started screaming for my son, who is 16, he came in. My other son woke up and then my daughter. I was shaking, I was so, so shocked.
“They were so frightened, they were shaking, we were all shaking, we didn’t know what to do we were so frightened.”
Linda called gardai immediately after the incident at 4am on Saturday and described the intruder as being between 19 and 25, tall and of a stocky build.
She said she gave a full statement to officers and detectives have been back to the house in the north of the city to get further details and to reassure her they are taking the case seriously.
Linda did not hear the man speak but told Neil Prendeville on REDFM yesterday he had been drinking.
She said: “He had really black hair, really skin-tight at the back, the way boys have it these days, he had a very strong smell of alcohol off him, I remember the black runners and socks.”
Linda added her family are still fearful in the house and has asked the council to send somebody to check the locks and ensure the property is secure.
She said: “I just want to make sure my children are safe at night and we can lock all of our doors and windows.”
The single parent added she has had support from neighbours in the Gurranabraher Avenue area who have been stunned by her ordeal.
She said: “It’s normally a brilliant area, I’m just shocked, I’m so shocked.
“It could happen again, he could do this to another vulnerable woman, women who live alone need to be so, so careful.”
A MAN was charged in court last night over a spate of burglaries two years ago.
The 28-year-old was being held at Mayfield Garda station after his arrest in Mallow, Co Cork on Tuesday.
He later appeared before a special sitting of the City District Court.
The man was arrested over raids across Cork and Waterford in May 2018.
That month, a suspect collided with a Garda car while fleeing a pursuit.
LINDA HEGARTY CORK YESTERDAY