A 70-YEAR-OLD Co Louth man used a Victim Support alarm to scare off two raiders who broke into his home and demanded money.
The intruders, who were not armed, fled empty-handed after the man used an alarm hanging around his neck to activate an emergency response telephone in his home near Drogheda.
The telephone sounded a noise in the house and also connected the man to Victim Support's 24-hour helpline. Victim Support then notified a neighbour and gardai in Drogheda about the incident. A helpline worker spoke to the man over the phone while he waited for the neighbour and gardai to arrive.
The man, who lives alone, was confronted by intruders in bed at
1.30 a.m. yesterday. They had entered the house after breaking a window in the front living room.
Gardai said the man was shaken but not injured. He was treated at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and released a short time later.
"They obviously knew the man lived alone and was an easy target. They had no reason to believe he had cash in the house," a Garda spokesman said in Drogheda.
The co-ordinator of the Victim Support Helpline, Mr Jack Keaveney, said he was "very pleased" the attempted burglary had been foiled by the security equipment.
"These phone alarms have given control back to elderly people and enabled them to have their independence while at the same time ensuring their relatives that they are safe," he said.
Victim Support had fitted more than 2,000 emergency response telephones in the past 18 months and a further 1,000 were being installed, he added.
The president of Muintir na Tire, Mr Jim Quigley, said 15,000 people had benefited from the Government's £2.6 million allocation for domestic security equipment for the elderly last year. A further £2 million was pledged in last month's Budget.
A local man in his 20s was arrested by gardai at 4 a.m. yesterday. Gardai said a cut in his hand may have been caused by broken glass. They were continuing their search for another man.