Elderly targeted in spate of burglaries in North
An elderly woman confined to a wheelchair became the victim of the sixth robbery against senior citizens in the North since Friday.
Two men kicked down the door of the woman’s home in the Glen Colin area of west Belfast at around 4.45am and demanded cash from their victim.
They took a handbag containing money, a bank card and bank books and searched the cabinets of the house before leaving.
While she was not physically injured, the woman was shaken by the incident.
Police said one of the men is believed to be 5ft 9in, with broad build, and was wearing a dark fleece. He had a local accent.
The incident followed a spate of robberies across the North including a kicking down of a door of a house belonging to a 100-year-old woman in south Belfast by robbers yesterday.
The pensioner was asleep in a downstairs room of the house in the Donegall Road area when her front door was forced open.
One of the robbers stayed with her while the others searched the house.
In Banbridge, an 80-year-old man was the victim of a raid on his home in Huntley Road early yesterday by four masked men who held him down and demanded cash.
Police said the pensioner was traumatised following the robbery.
In Ballymena, an elderly couple were also targeted in an early morning robbery in Wilson Crescent at around 2.30am yesterday when a masked man woke up the 70-year-old woman.
A hand was placed over her mouth and the duvet pulled over her head while the robber demanded cash.
He made off with money, two radios and a video recorder in the incident which police believe involved three other men.
On Friday night a 75-year-old woman was robbed by two youths wearing masks in Lisburn.
They broke into her house at Warren Gardens at around 10pm and held her down while her home was ransacked. Her 73-year-old brother was asleep at the time.
In Newtownabbey, four raiders held down a 79-year-old man, ransacking his bedroom in the Glebecoole area.
They stole a legally-held firearm owned by the senior citizen and a sum of cash.
Former Stormont minister Carmel Hanna yesterday called for strict sentencing for criminals caught for robberies and assaults on senior citizens.
The south Belfast nationalist SDLP Assembly member said: “There seems to be such a breakdown in law and order and such a lack of respect, particularly for the older people in our society who should be respected and honoured.”
