‘They feel like sitting ducks’: Neighbours fearful after attack on Co Sligo farmer

There is a palpable sense of fear among older people in west Co Sligo following a vicious attack on a 73-year-old farmer in his home, a local politician has said.

Cllr Michael Clarke said those responsible for the assault on Tom Niland and the burglary at his home would come forward “if they have any decency”.

Mr Clarke, a neighbour of Mr Niland’s, said older people living in the area were worried that those responsible had not been caught and were asking if they might be targeted next.

“They feel like sitting ducks,” said the independent councillor, who added that Mr Niland was a “very popular” figure in the locality.

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“We are all very sad. We were outraged first when it happened and now we are saddened to learn he is fighting for his life.”

Mr Niland was badly beaten in his home at Skreen on the N59 Sligo to Ballina road on the evening of January 18th.

Gardaí believe he was watching television at about 7pm when someone called to his home. When he opened the door, three masked men forced their way into the house, took a small sum of money and badly injured Mr Niland, who later managed to crawl to the roadside to seek help.

Locals said that, despite living alone, Mr Niland would not have been considered vulnerable as he was a fit and strong person. Neighbours have been rallying around his extended family after it emerged at the weekend that he was on life support.

It is understood that Mr Niland was able to give gardaí a limited description of his attackers following the incident. Gardaí have not ruled out the possibility that at least one other gang member may have remained in a getaway car, which was reversed into the driveway to ensure a quick escape.

Friends and neighbours

Angela Giblin, who visited Mr Niland in hospital last week with retired parish priest Fr Michael O’Horo, had a candle lighting on her kitchen table as she waited for news of her friend. She said some people would be nervous in their homes following the news.

“I had a break-in here about 10 years ago at two in the afternoon,” she said. “I was in Sligo but I came home to find the door open, all the presses emptied and the place ransacked. But to think that Tom got such a beating, it is shocking.”

Sligo County Council cathaoirleach Cllr Paul Taylor appealed on Monday to those responsible to come forward and for people with information to contact gardaí “as this man needs you now”.

Kathleen Henry, a neighbour whose mother, also named Kathleen Henry, was in the same school class as Mr Niland, said the 6ft 2in farmer was the type of person “who would always do you a good turn”.

“That is why people are so angry at what happened to him,” she said.

Ms Henry said she got a present of a dash cam for her car for Christmas and regretted not installing it before January 18th. She had been “over and back” on the N59 on the evening of the burglary and might have passed something that could be relevant to the investigation.

Seán Rowlette, from Dromore West, said he was staggered at the response to a Facebook appeal asking if people would help in a search for items, including Mr Niland’s phone, which might lead to those responsible.

“If we get the okay from gardaí, there will be a couple of hundred people available,” he said.