Callous burglars stole my late mum’s jewellery
A WOMAN spoke of her trauma after her house was burgled and jewellery belonging to two deceased relatives was stolen.
Jewellery belonging to Sinead Quinn’s late mother as well as her deceased brother-in-law Desmond was stolen in the break-in.
She spoke out on RTÉ’s ‘Liveline’ radio programme as gardaí claimed there had been a massive reduction in burglaries – down 23pc since October.
However, further scrutiny of the figures revealed that the number of burglaries for December was 1,424. This was only a small reduction on the 2016 monthly average of 1,496. In fact, gardaí acknowledged burglaries had been rising for several months during the year as a whole – spiking at 1,863 in October before falling back somewhat.
However, despite requests from this newspaper, no full monthly breakdown was provided for 2016 and 2017.
The CSO hasn’t published crime stats since March of last year, and said there was “still some work” to be done before it could return to doing so.
A Garda statement said it was comparing figures since the peak in October and: “The press release today makes clear that these are Garda figures and are provisional.”
Sinead, who lives in Blanchardstown, described the pain of coping with the fallout of the burglary that happened while she was out for dinner with her family. The family searched the house and realised that jewellery of sentimental value had been taken. Sinead’s mother Patti passed away last March and left valuables including a wedding ring and an eternity ring to her daughters.
“She would always say to us ‘you’re getting that ring and you’re getting that ring’...she was always so proud of her jewellery collection,” Sinead said.
Items also belonging to Sinead’s late brother-in-law Desmond were also stolen, including a wedding ring and a watch.
She has now appealed for anyone with information in relation to the stolen items to come forward.
“I’ve shared pictures of the rings that were stolen on social media, and hopefully people will look out for buy-and-sell websites in case they go up. The guards have said that they’re actively investigating it,” she added.