By Noel O’Driscoll
A SIX-year-old girl endured a terrifying ordeal last Tuesday when the car she was sitting in was stolen and driven away in Athy. The little girl was sitting in the back seat of her father's car at Duke Street in Athy at 2.45pm last Tuesday afternoon 6 December while he went into a local shop.
A man who left a nearby pub crossed the road when he spotted the keys were in the ignition of the car.
He jumped into the car and drove off heading out the Stradbally Road.
When the car thief realised that the little girl was sitting in the back seat he stopped the car on the Stradbally Road and let her out before driving away.
Gardaí who had been alerted to the incident picked up the girl, who is a foreign national, and she was reunited with her father within a short period of time. The child was unharmed during the incident.
Meanwhile the man continued to drive the green 98 registered Mitsubishi Carisma Hatchback and it was spotted in the Tipperary town of Clonmel by local gardaí at approximately 6.30pm. A chase ensued and the stolen vehicle crashed the car into another car, which was being driven by a male in his early 30s who was unlucky enough to be in the area at the time.
Both men were brought to Clonmel Hospital to be treated for minor injuries and following his release from hospital the driver of the stolen car was arrested and taken to Clonmel Garda Station. He was later released on Wednesday 7 December and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The Garda Ombudsman Commission is investigating the circumstances of the crash between the two vehicles.
Sergeant James Bergin said that Athy gardaí are satisfied that this was not a child abduction attempt. “People should not be alarmed in any way because of this incident, we are satisfied that this was not an attempt at an abduction;” he said.
Meanwhile gardaí have indicated that parents who leave children in unattended in a car with the key in the ignition could find themselves subject to charges if anything untoward happens to that child because of the actions of the parent.