Man questioned in Limerick pensioner attack is released

A man questioned by gardaí investigating an assault on a woman (89) who was mugged outside her home in Limerick city on Sunday has been released without charge.

The woman remains in the High Dependency Unit of University Hospital Limerick where she is being treated for a number of injuries, including a suspected broken pelvis.

A relative who did not wish to be named appealed for privacy and said the family was still trying to come to terms with the ordeal, which they described as “horrific”.

The woman was attacked at 10.30pm on Sunday as she returned home to the Rosbrien area of the city after playing bingo. She had been dropped to her house by a taxi and was standing on a step in front of the property when her handbag was grabbed and she was dragged to the ground.

It is understood that the taxi driver who brought the woman home was driving past after dropping a second woman off in the locality and noticed the woman lying on the ground. A number of neighbours came to her aid and the emergency services were contacted. The assailant had fled the scene with the woman’s handbag which contained just €20 in cash.

It was the second time a pensioner was targeted in the city in less than a week. A man appeared in court in connection with the earlier incident yesterday.

‘Form of terrorism’

Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Niall Collins, a TD for Limerick, described the attack as “a form of terrorism”.

“The savagery of this attack against an 89-year-old woman was deliberate in its cruelty and deliberate in the message it was sending to other vulnerable older people in Limerick and across the country,” said Mr Collins. He was “shocked and saddened” by the number of older people in Limerick who had contacted him since the attack expressing concerns about their safety.