Pensioner too terrified to return home following burglary ordeal

A pensioner has told how he is too terrified to go back to his home after he was threatened by two burglars.

Arthur Murray (76), who lived alone in Cappoquin, Co Waterford, had to move into a nursing home following the ordeal.

In a victim impact statement which was read out at Waterford Circuit Criminal Court at the trial of one of the burglars on his behalf, he said: “I cry every time I think about how this happened.

“I would love to live in my own home but I am too terrified going back.”

Luke Fennessy (22), of St Brigid’s Place in Dungarvan, appeared in the court on a charge of burglary connected to a raid at Mr Murray’s house on May 18, 2017.

Knife

Detective Garda Joe Wyse told the court that Fennessy and another man broke the back window of the pensioner’s home at about 10pm and entered the house. When Mr Murray saw the two intruders in the hallway, he believed they had a knife in their possession.

One of the two raiders, who was brandishing a weapon, told him: “I’ll kill you if you don’t get the money.”

The elderly man said that he was so afraid since the incident that he has had to move into a nursing home.

In his victim impact statement, which was read out by Noel Whelan BL, prosecuting, he said: “I don’t feel safe on my own anymore.

“I didn’t deserve it. I never did not harm to no-one.”

He said that he was so “terrified that I’d meet those two again”, that he had to move into the nursing home in another village.

Terrified

The victim, who used to carry around money on his person in case work needed to be carried out at his home, was known to Fennessy, the court heard.

The two raiders went into a local field, following the incident, and changed their clothes.

They then got a taxi to a local pub.

The sum of €550 was found on Fennessy, while a further €2,900 was discovered in his undergarments.

Judge Eugene O’Kelly said: “This must have been a terrifying ordeal for the victim.”

He said that the man must have felt as if he would be killed, while the perpetrators were focused on “an easy target”.

He handed down a five-year jail term but suspended the final two years.