The clocks had barely struck midnight to mark the new year when a young Irish family was the victim of an armed robbery by a migrant gang at their home in Santry, Dublin.
In the early hours of New Year’s Day, footage from a home belonging to a young couple with children showed at least two hooded Black males breaking into an apartment by smashing a glass door and reporting cleaning out thousands of euros worth of Christmas presents.
In stills posted by the RM.tv news platform, the perpetrators armed themselves with hatchets as they stormed the property while a pregnant mother and her two young children slept upstairs.
Further information about the attack was provided by the sister of the victim who set up an online fundraiser in an attempt to recoup some of the losses.
“Last night, my sister’s house was broken into while she and her boyfriend and two kids slept upstairs and she’s pregnant. All the kids’ Christmas money and vouchers they got for presents were stolen, and €1500 in cash was taken from my sister who was saving for a new car for when her new baby comes. Also, her boyfriend’s two jackets — a Navy Moncler and a Black Canada Goose — were stolen,” Leah Keogh wrote on GoFundMe.
“They are so shaken up knowing someone was creeping through their house while they slept upstairs, took all their savings that took her so long to save up over €4000 worth of cash vouchers, and the jackets. They are heartbroken right after Christmas, and to have it happen on New Year’s Eve,” she added.
The victim’s sister explained how the armed robbers had broken in through the kitchen window which was “hanging off when they left so the window was off all night while they slept”.
The fundraiser is attempting to raise €1,000 to help recover the value of the vouchers taken from the children.