Gardaí received a report at approximately 4:15 am that two men had forced entry into the premises and fled with a quantity of cigarettes.
The incident occurred at O’Hara’s Centra in Foxford. The two men broke in, sounding the alarm in the process.
Laura O’Hara is a manager at Centra and lives above the shop. She and her husband Mark confronted the burglars.
She explained the series of events to the Irish Independent.
“I woke up to the alarm going off roughly around 4:10 am. I went and looked at the cameras, and I saw two people behind the checkout. So I called for Mark to tell him that we were getting robbed.
“He hopped out of bed, got dressed, went into the utility room, got a metal brush and came down the stairs. I came down not long after him. He came in the door, went straight in towards the front of the checkout, and started roaring at them to get out of the shop.
“They were shocked to see Mark there. I stood over beside the coffee machine. They were moving from behind the checkout to come out to leave the shop,” she said.
Laura explained that she positioned herself between the coffee machine and the front door, just two metres apart, standing with her arms outstretched in an attempt to block the men from escaping.
“Then I saw that he had a crowbar, so I let them pass because I wasn’t going to get attacked.”
Laura explained that one of the men escaped and the second man was chased out the front door by Mark. The first man dropped his bag that was filled with stolen cigarettes.
“The second man ran outside and dropped the cigarettes. He picked them up, and then the two of them ran across the road and got into a red or maroon hatchback car. I’m not sure of the make or model,” she recalled, “They had hoodies on, black hoodies, one had a hoodie with the Kappa symbol on the back of it and their faces were covered, all you could see were their eyes.”
Laura remarked: “You have to expect these things though, when you’re working in a shop, you have to expect a certain bit of hassle from some people.”
She explained that the Guards were quick on the scene: “I called them around 4:14 am, and they were probably here within five minutes, give or take, and they were with us up until just after 6 am.”
It has been reported that the getaway car crashed and was abandoned not too far from Foxford.
“One of the Guards was sitting with us while the others were in and out because they had to go to the scene of the crash,” Laura said, “They got away with some cigarettes, not to the full extent that they thought they were getting away with.”
Neither Laura nor Mark were harmed during the burglary.
Gardaí are appealing to anyone who may have information on this incident to contact them and are particularly interested in speaking to anyone who was in the Pontoon Road, Laherdane and Crossmolina areas and saw anything out of the ordinary.
It is believed that the two suspects may have been travelling on foot for a time.
Gardaí are asking any road users who have camera footage and were in the area between 4 am and 8 am on the morning of Monday, August 25, to make the footage available to investigating Gardaí.
Gardaí enquiries are ongoing and anyone with information is asked to contact Ballina Garda Station on 096 20560, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.
This article has been funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.