Gardaí are appealing for information after an 85-year-old woman had her handbag stolen while tending to her late husband’s grave.
Irene Foley (85) was visiting a graveyard in Ratoath, Co Meath, at about 2.45pm on Saturday when the incident occurred.
Her husband Christy Foley, who died in 1979, is buried in the graveyard.
“I was not a minute on the grave,” she said. “I had just walked on it and bent down to pick up the flowers.
“I was going to get the water bottle out from beside the headstone and the next thing I knew something came [towards me] from my left side.
“I had my bag on the ground with me. It was a pouch bag with a chain as a draw-string.
“He just got it and was gone. It was so quick. I shouted after him. With two or three strides by him and he was gone into a car. There was a car waiting with the door open for him.”
Ms Foley said she will “forgive” the youth who stole the bag but “will not forget what he did”.
Review of policing
Cllr Nick Killian (Independent) said that Garda management in the Ashbourne district ought to carry out a “review of policing” in Ratoath, which is a town with a population of 12,000 and no Garda station.
“Sending Garda cars to drive around is not any deterrent to opportunistic robbers,” he said.
“I have continuously called for gardaí to be on the beat, where they can get to know residents and build up a strong rapport with the large number of young people, where we have 2,900 students in both primary and post-primary education.”