Three elderly priests were subjected to a three-hour ordeal when a raider with a knife broke into their monastery at Loughrea, Co Galway, yesterday morning. The Carmelite priests, in their 70s, eventually managed to knock the attacker to the ground and held him until gardai arrived. The prior, Father Finian Monaghan, said the intruder, in his early 20s, broke into the Carmelite abbey at about 4 a.m. He went to the bedroom of Father Bernard Cuffe (78), held a knife to his throat and ordered him downstairs. In the kitchen, the man ate some breakfast and drank wine.
The man told Father Cuffe he was going to kill him. He said he had known triple murderer Brendan O'Donnell, and Father Joe Walsh, of Eyrecourt, Co Galway, the priest whom O'Donnell had killed.
Father Monaghan came downstairs at 6.40 a.m. and was assaulted. Some 15 minutes later, Father Frank Quinn came down and he was also threatened with the knife. However, the man was caught off guard when Father Monaghan struck him on the head with a chair, knocking him to the ground.
A 23-year-old east Galway man was arrested at the scene and a file is being prepared for the DPP.