A 72-YEAR-OLD woman is recovering in Cork after being dragged along the road by a gang of youths in a car who tried to steal her handbag.
A file is being prepared for the DPP on the five people arrested in connection with the robbery.
The incident happened at about 10.15am on Saturday morning after the woman withdrew a sum of cash from an ATM machine at a Texaco filling station on the Model Farm Road in Cork.
Gardaí believe the gang of two men and three women were watching the ATM, and they drove after the woman and started beeping at her in a bid to get her to stop as she drove in the direction of Ballincollig.
The woman spotted the car following her and turned into Chelmsford Estate on the Model Farm Road, but the gang followed her, and when she stopped two men got out of the vehicle and accused her of having crashed into them.
They grabbed her handbag and raced back to their car, but the woman followed them, leaned in the driver’s window and managed to grab the handbag, only to end up grappling with the driver for the handbag as the car pulled off.
The woman was dragged along the ground for a short distance and suffered bad grazing to her knees and hands as she hung on to the handbag.
When the strap snapped she was able to retrieve the handbag and the gang left empty-handed.
A resident in Chelmsford spotted the incident and contacted gardaí, and a motorcycle garda from the Traffic Corps along with a patrol car from Togher and an unmarked patrol car from Gurranebraher responded.
Gardaí arrested two men and three women a short time later after their car crashed at the Mardyke Walk near the Western Road close to Cork city centre. The suspects were detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
All five, aged between their late-teens and early 20s, were released on Saturday night.
However, one man was detained in relation to another matter and a file will be prepared on the matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions, a Garda spokesman confirmed.
The elderly woman received treatment for injuries to her hands and legs and she was also badly traumatised by the incident, fearing at one stage that she might be dragged under the car, said a Garda source.
“This was a particularly despicable crime targeting an elderly and vulnerable member of the community who showed great resilience and courage but was still very badly traumatised by what happened to her,” the Garda source added.
