Gardaí have arrested two suspects for questioning about the theft of a sizeable sum of cash from an 83-year-old woman in a night time break-in at her home.
The woman, who lives alone, was awoken about 4am on Friday to discover two men at the foot of her bed in her house in the Capwell area of Cork city.
The men claimed to be gardaí investigating burglaries in the area and said they had come in to the house after finding the front door to her home open.
They said they were concerned that the woman may have been burgled and asked her could she check to see if any cash she had in the house was safe.
When the woman told them where she kept her savings in her bedroom, they immediately stole the sizeable sum of cash and fled the scene.
The woman was uninjured but was badly shaken by the incident, which was one of a number of night time break-ins and burglaries in the Capwell area.
Gardaí were notified and began an investigation, with officers carrying out door-to-door inquiries in the Capwell and Evergreen areas of Cork’s southside.
Garda technical experts carried out a series of forensic examinations of the houses that were burgled in the area of the early hours of Friday morning.
And detectives also began harvesting CCTV footage from houses and commercial premises in the area in a bid to try and identify the two culprits.
Officers described the theft from the 83-year-old woman as “a particularly mean crime”, waking the woman from her sleep and then stealing from her.
Although the men didn’t present any fake Garda identification, one of the men was wearing a hi-vis jacket, leading the woman to believe they were gardaí.
Yesterday evening around 5pm, gardaí arrested two men – one in his late 20s and one in his late 40s – on Pope’s Quay in Cork city centre for questioning.
The two men were arrested and brought for questioning to Togher Garda Station where they are detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
The men, one of whom is originally from the Mayfield area of Cork city and the other who is originally from Midleton in east Cork, can be held for 24 hours.
Gardaí have appealed to anyone who may have seen anyone acting suspiciously in the Capwell or Evergreen areas on Friday to contact them.
They are particularly anxious for any motorists with dash cam footage from the area to contact them at Anglesea St Garda Station on 021-4522000.
