TOM DIES 20MTHS AFTER BURGLARY
75-yr-old suffered horror injuries in attack at his home
PENSIONER Tom Niland died yesterday – 20 months after an aggravated burglary left him paralysed from the neck down.
The 75-year-old had been in intensive care and unable to talk since the horror attack in his home in Skreen, Co Sligo, in January last year.
Tom, who lived alone, was left with serious head and upper body injuries following the assault on January 18, 2022.
The bachelor farmer had been on a ventilator in the intensive care unit of Sligo University Hospital since the incident at his property.
His cousin, Michael Walsh, said: “He had been through a terrible time. At this stage, I know it’s a horrible thing to say but... just to see it end for him. He suffered so much continuously throughout and coming near the end... it was almost impossible to watch him. It was an awful thing to see the way he suffered to the point that we were wishing that God would be taking him.
“Because before this he was an active man.
“He was beginning to enjoy life. He was retired but he kept working – he was always doing something and he was full of life.
“He never had an ache or pain and was very strong and healthy and then to see him like that, it was terrible.”
Michael said no funeral arrangements have been made and he expects a postmortem will take place tomorrow.
Francis Harman, 55, of Nephin Court, Killala Road, Ballina, John Clarke, 34, of Carrowkelly, Ballina, and John Irving, 29, of Shanwar, Foxford, all from Co Mayo, are all before the courts over the alleged incident.
They have been charged with aggravated burglary with a knife, assault causing serious harm and false imprisonment.
Because before this he was an active man. He was beginning to enjoy life