RTÉ boss Forbes tells of terrifying gun-point robbery
RTÉ Director General Dee Forbes has told of the terrifying moment she was robbed at gun-point while on holiday in Spain.
Ms Forbes, from Cork, revealed that during a trip to the Spanish capital Madrid she was held down on the ground while a gun was pointed on her.
Ms Forbes told 2fm radio host Eoghan McDermott that initially she did not realise that one of the thieves who were trying to rob her was armed with a pistol.
She was walking along a city centre street with a friend when the dramatic incident unfolded.
“I was walking down the road with a really good friend of mine and we were walking into the centre of Madrid and a guy came out of a car, grabbed my bag and I had a gun pointed against me,” she said during an interview to mark International Women’s Day.
“His friend got my friend up against the wall and stole her chain. I was fighting like hell because my passport and everything was in the bag.
“I was fighting not knowing a gun was on me until I heard my friend shout ‘stop, he’s got a gun’.”
Ms Forbes said the memory of the incident still lingers even though it happened “many years ago”.
She was living in the UK at the time of the incident.
She was thankful that neither she nor her friend was harmed.
“I was really scared for quite a while after. I was working in London at the time.
“The walk from the office to the train station wasn’t the most fabulous of walks and it was scary,” she added.
“I can see myself where it happened, on the ground and the guy grabbing my bag.
“There was no harm done and that’s the main thing.”
Ms Forbes recently returned home to work in Montrose having worked in the media industry in London for 27 years.