Burglary is not just a problem in rural areas

THERE are few baser crimes than premeditated violent assaults on older people. If a society has any measure of civilisation then those responsible can surely have nowhere hide. The vicious terrorising of an 81-year-old man in Drumcondra in the heart of Dublin, gives the lie to the notion that violent burglary is confined to remote rural areas.

The pensioner was savagely attacked and threatened with an iron bar.

And it would be a mistake to believe that the cowardly thugs who target the elderly are loath to strike in the city, far from it. According to 2014 crime statistics and population figures, the CSO determined the average burglary rate across the State was 599 crimes per 100,000 people per year.

And of the 22 Garda divisions outside Dublin, 14 had a burglary rate below the national average. What is noteworthy here is that the six Dublin divisions were above that average, with the south central and north central divisions recording a rate more than twice the norm.

Earlier this year, the DPP asked the Court of Appeal to set down sentencing guidelines for violent burglary cases.

There is a grave need to get the message out that those who see older people as easy prey will pay a severe price.

Just as there is an onerous responsibility on society as a whole – and gardaí in particular – to protect them.

There is something very wrong with the way we enforce law and order when it is our elderly who are living in fear and not the violent criminals who make their lives hell.