Raider called priest ‘paedophile’ during break-in

A parish priest yesterday revealed how a gang of raiders ransacked his house before leaving with the only cash he had — a €5 note.

Fr Pat O’Brien said he was particularly afraid of one of the four burglars, who was high on drugs, and who kept calling him a paedophile.

The parish priest of Caherlistrane, north Co Galway, said he tried to appeal to the leader of the gang — who spoke with a “Corkish” accent — and this spared him from “worse damage”.

The ordeal happened last Friday when Fr O’Brien answered a commotion at the front door. 

As he did, the door broke open and four men wearing ski-masks or balaclavas stormed in.

“They demanded money first,” said Fr O’Brien. “I said I had a fiver and gave it to them.”

The gang demanded access to a safe. Fr O’Brien showed them an empty safe, but they insisted he had another.

“It caused them to literally ransack everything,” said Fr O’Brien. He said he quickly realised he had to strike up a relationship with one of them.

“One of them was dangerous, not the leader, one of them was very, very high. Any time I was alone with him in the room I was scared. Anything personal, even photographs of parents or letters, he was deliberately destroying them in front of me. He had only two words, he kept shouting the word ‘paedophile’ at me, and ‘gold’.”

The leader of the gang told Fr O’Brien he did not realise how much drugs money the gang owed.

Fr O’Brien said they tied him up “quite painfully” before they left and it took 20 minutes to free himself.