Community in fear after attack on Tom
THERE is scarcely a family in the rural area where a pensioner was savagely attacked last month that has not been affected by crime, a local councillor said.
Tom Niland, 73, was watching television in his home on the N59 in Skreen, Co. Sligo, on January 18 when he was brutally assaulted by three intruders. Mr Niland’s cousin Michael Walsh described the incident as ‘a frenzied attack’.
The culprits left Mr Niland with serious injuries to his eye socket and head as well as multiple broken ribs and he remains on life support at Sligo University Hospital.
‘As far as west Sligo is concerned it would be very hard to find a family that hasn’t been the victim of a break in or a robbery,’ Independent councillor Michael Clarke from Dromore West told the Irish Mail on Sunday.
Locals who spoke to the MoS this weekend said concerns about safety had been mounting since the closure of nearby Easkey Garda Station several years ago. The next-nearest Garda stations, in Enniscrone and Skreen, are not manned 24/7.
A local community group had attempted to have CCTV installed along the road where Mr Niland lives, only for the plan to fall due to funding issues.
‘There was an annual cost of about €1,800 that had to be met,’ said Cllr Clarke. ‘The community council would have had to fundraise every year for that.’
Local shop owner Blair Feeney said locals should not have to fund CCTV, and he added that fear has been tangible in the community since the attack on Mr Niland.
‘Someone in my shop the other day was talking about the fear they’re living in,’ said Mr Feeney. ‘They spent the last two years with a mask on them preventing Covid, but the fear of this is much greater, and no mask can keep these thugs out.’