Three men arrested in connection within the attack on 73-year-old Tom Niland during a burglary at his home in January are chief suspects in the case. The men are being questioned about their alleged direct roles in the crime at Mr Niland's home in Co Sligo.
The suspects are aged in their 20s, 30s and 50s and were being questioned at Garda stations in Sligo and Leitrim after their arrests during a pre-planned Garda operation in the north west region on Wednesday.
A number of searches were also carried out as part of the operation and as gardai were continuing the evidence-gathering phase of the investigation. The attack on Mr Niland left him on life support in hospital and a major criminal investigation has been underway for almost two months in a bid to catch his attackers.
The suspects were being detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act on suspicion of carrying out the burglary and can be questioned without charge for up to 24 hours.
While the arrests of the three suspects on Wednesday were the first since the inquiry began almost two months ago, the men detained have been nominated as suspects for some time. A number of items stolen in the burglary, including Mr Niland’s wallet, were found during searches in the Ox Mountains almost a month after the attack on the evening of January 18th.
Mr Niland was attacked at his home in Skreen, on the Sligo to Ballina road, by a gang of masked men who called to the door at about 7pm. The bachelor, who farmed from his mid-teens until his retirement seven years ago, was watching television alone at the time.
The gang badly beat him before robbing hundreds of euro in cash. They then tied Mr Niland’s laces together to frustrate his efforts to get help, leaving him to crawl to the road outside his house in the hopes he would be seen.
A neighbour who noticed something outside their home said Mr Niland was unrecognisable due to the extent of his facial injuries. And while he was able to speak to gardaí after the attack, his condition deteriorated and he was placed on life support at Sligo University Hospital.
The burglars had reversed a car into his driveway and left with some the victim’s personal items such as a wallet and phone. Gardai believe Mr Niland was targeted because he lived alone and was vulnerable and that a degree of pre-planning was involved in the robbery.
However, Mr Niland is believed to have only had a modest sum of money in his home and gardai had dismissed reports to withdrew a large sum from a Credit Union and was targeted because of that.
