Priest attacked in Portlaoise tells of ‘terrible experience’

An attack on a priest who was robbed by two burglars after they broke into his parish house in Portlaoise was “a terrible experience”.

Fr Dominic Savio, from India, said he received a call to his house at about 11pm on Saturday night. When he opened the door he was confronted by two men armed with knives. “They were beating me because I made a lot of screaming and then they threatened me with the knife,” Fr Savio told Sean O’Rourke on RTÉ radio.

“They took a lot of things. They took all of my money and my laptop, mobile phone and they were looking for more. I didn’t have anything more than that.”

Fr Savio said he pleaded with them to take whatever they wanted but not to harm him. He said they threatened to cut his thumb off if he didn’t give them more money and they also held the blade to his throat, cutting him.

“I told them whatever you want you take it and go. Don’t harm me. They were demanding more money but I didn’t have it,” he said.

He said the masked men, who he believed to have been under the age of 30, threatened to kill him. He couldn’t identify them because their faces were covered but “they looked like professionals”.

Fr Savio estimated the attack lasted about 20 minutes, during which they dragged him around his house looking for money. When they left he locked himself in his room and later drove to a neighbour’s house.

The priest said he still managed to say mass the following morning despite the ordeal. He informed An Garda Síochána of the incident and has been receiving support and sympathy from the parishioners of Ratheniska, Co Laois, he said. “I am alright now,” he added.

Fr Savio arrived in Portlaoise this month to provide cover for two local priests who are on pilgrimage to Lourdes.

Monsignore John Byrne said local people were almost embarrassed that the attack and that it would happen to a visitor to their town. He told RTÉ radio it was “a terrible experience for a young man who had just come here. I was very shocked but greatly relieved that there wasn’t a worse outcome”.