Balla shop workers’ gunpoint nightmare

Balla shop workers’ gunpoint nightmare


Raiders put gun to woman’s head during late-night attack

Edwin McGreal

A gun was put to the head of a woman working in a Balla supermarket when four raiders stormed into the shop on Thursday night last.
Two women working in the supermarket at the time were held captive at gunpoint for 20 minutes while the raiders searched the premises for cash and other valuable items.

Speaking to The Mayo News last night (Monday), the supermarket owner Peter Gaughan said it was ‘a frightening experience’ for the two women.
“It was a very scary ordeal and it is very frightening for us that this can happen, for the two girls especially. We have top-of-the-range security systems here – excellent CCTV, panic buttons for staff and two people are always on duty – but a gun to the head overrides everything,” Mr Gaughan said.
The store was just about to close on Thursday night at 10.10pm when the four men rushed in and grabbed one of the workers. They waited for the second staff member to come downstairs, and when she did, they took all communication devices – mobile phones and panic alarms – from them both.
The raiders were described as ‘organised’. They wore balaclavas and carried walkie talkies. After they keys from the women, one of the men spent 20 minutes searching throughout the store whilst two others stood over the staff members, who were forced to lie on the ground. A fourth man waited outside in a navy-coloured car. At least one of the men was armed with a gun. The others carried what staff believed to be crowbars.

Foiled
The raiders were disturbed when young local men who were driving by noticed a man with a balaclava. They pulled up, started beeping the horn and rang the gardaí. Spooked, the four raiders made a hasty exit in the direction of Kiltimagh.
They took a small amount of cash and a small amount of cigarettes.
“The two girls are physically unharmed, but mentally it was a huge shock for them,” said Peter Gaughan. “The local garda was down at the scene in three minutes and the rest of the gardaí from Castlebar were there in nine minutes. It was an excellent response,” he added.
Mr Gaughan said retailers were constantly faced with crime, and that shoplifting was a regular scourge in his shop, although he acknowledged that the gun raid was a ‘frightening escalation’.  
Supt Pat Diskin of Castlebar Garda Station praised local people for their assistance with this case. Anyone who may have seen anything suspicious in the area between 10pm and 11pm is asked to contact the Incident Room at Castlebar Garda Station on 094 9022222.
Burglary
Meanwhile, gardaí in Castlebar are also seeking the public’s assistance after a substantial amount of cash was taken from a home in The Brambles housing estate on the Pontoon Road in Castlebar on Saturday.
The house was broken into sometime between 4pm and 5pm on Saturday evening. Three people were seen leaving the area. There was nobody in the house at the time. Some items of jewellery were also taken in the raid.
Anyone who saw anything suspicious should contact Castlebar Garda Station on 094 9022222.