Family shocked by daylight robbery of car

Gardaí have confirmed that they are investigating an incident in which a car was stolen from a private residence in Cavan town, writes Thomas Lyons. The victim of the crime described the experience as “shocking”, but is thankful that no one was hurt.

Festus Ogunjimi from Bramble Rise, Cavan had advertised the sale of his Ford Galaxy on the Donedeal.ie website on Sunday morning. The following day he received two calls regarding the sale. One came to view, but did not drive the car, but the other caller arranged to see the vehicle the next day.

On Tuesday a lady and her husband, who had initially wanted the owner to meet them at another location late at night, agreed to call to the Bramble Rise home in the afternoon: “The lady rang the doorbell and my wife went out. I then came with the keys and the documents. The man opened the door, sat in the driver seat and snatched the key from me. He put the key in the ignition and started the car. I went to the door to sit behind him, but he drove off so fast he knocked me off my feet,” Festus told the Anglo Celt.

The victim pursued the thief in his other car: “I followed him as far as I could, but he was driving so recklessly that I just backed off and stopped. My daughter had called the Guards and when I got home they were at my house so I gave them my statement.”

Festus took to social media in an attempt to trace the car:

Mr Ogunjimi said hat his family was appalled by the occurrence: “It was a terrible experience. I have told Donedeal about it. It was so shocking, I was thankful that I was at home and that it happened in my presence and not just my wife. Normally my child will run out to play as soon as we open the front door is opened, we were just lucky that she was not out because they drove off so fast.”

He said that he was informed by Gardaí that the car was reportedly spotted in Longford around half an hour after it was stolen: “It took them around 30 minutes to get to Longford, so you can imagine how fast they were driving. People have told me that it smashed into cars on the Cavan bypass on the way to Ballinagh. It was a crazy experience.”

If you have any information on a Ford Galaxy that was driven between Cavan town and Longford at around 1:00pm on Tuesday please contact Cavan Garda Station.