A woman whose home was attacked with a petrol bomb is being hailed for her quick thinking which probably saved the lives of her grandchildren.
Three children sustained injuries in last night's incident at the Waterford city home of Nellie Halligan. One of the children is undergoing surgery today for burns.
A local criminal gang is being blamed for the attack on the end-of-terrace home at Ardmore Park in the Ballybeg area of Waterford, which led to 11-year-old Roisin Halligan sustaining serious injuries to her face, neck, arms and legs.
Her one-year-old cousin Lexie also suffered burn injuries while another cousin, three-month-old William, suffered smoke inhalation.
Both Lexie and William are being treated at University Hospital Waterford while Roisin had to be transferred to Cork University Hospital and is understood to have received skin grafts.
The incident happened just after 9pm last night when Roisin and Lexie were watching cartoons on television in their grandmother’s front room. A petrol bomb was thrown through the window and exploded in the room, causing serious damage and injuries.
“Roisin saw Lexie on fire and threw herself on Lexie to put out the fire,” the girls’ aunt Linda said today. “Roisin is very badly burnt.”
Nellie Halligan said she was in her kitchen at the time of the incident and heard another of her daughters running down the stairs, screaming. “Roisin was saving the baby, but got the full blast,” a shaken Mrs Halligan said at her home today.
“I always have an extinguisher alongside me, since the threats started coming out. I put out the biggest part of the fire and started shouting to the girls, ‘will you get wet towels’… I had to do something. Thanks be to God and his holy blessed mother for giving me the strength.”
The furniture and carpets suffered extensive burn damage while her front window was smashed by the impact of the firebomb. “The house isn’t bothering me. You can fix the house up, but you can’t fix the children up. As far as I know, Roisin is badly burnt, God love her. I done my best, otherwise the whole house was gone.”
She said she was “not too bad” but worried about her grandchildren. Roisin’s mother Sabrina, Lexie’s mother Anne-Maria and William’s mother Ellen were all with their children as they received hospital treatment.
Mrs Halligan had 16 children but three sons passed away in recent years. A daughter, Danielle, said the family have been targetted for intimidation through no fault of their own.
“My sister rang me last night [about the fire]. It was Sabrina, she was shocked,” Danielle said.
“I thought she was messing at first… I went straight over to my mother’s. They’re all distressed and worried, as you’d expect them to be.”
Lexie Halligan had just returned from Cork University Hospital earlier yesterday, after having a procedure.
“Everything is destroyed, everything is burnt,” Danielle said in relation to her mother’s sitting-room. “Only for my mother got the fire extinguisher and put out the fire herself…”
She said a local gang is terrorising people in the area. “It’s horrible, you’re living in fear every day, worrying about what is going to happen.”
A 23-year-old local man was arrested in relation to the incident last night and was being held today under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act. He can be held until early on Saturday morning.
Gardaí in Waterford have appealed for any witnesses or anyone with information on the attack to contact them on 051-305300.
Ardmore Park is a large local authority estate located a short distance from the Cork Road on the edge of Waterford city. Close to the large IDA industrial park and Waterford Institute of Technology, Ardmore Park is part of the wider Ballybeg area. It featured in a TV3 documentary series, The Estate, last year, in which Nellie Halligan spoke about her life and the loss of three of her sons over the years.