by Vicki Weller
CUSTOMERS and staff at a Newbridge betting office were terrorised by two armed raiders who entered the premises on Monday afternoon. The raiders made off with cash after brandishing a gun and a knife while shouting at the frightened customers and counter assistants.
The raid on the Boylesports office at Henry Street (around the corner from the Terry Michael’s menswear shop) took place at 2.25pm on Monday, when around a dozen customers were in the betting shop.
One eyewitness who was in the shop at the time described the raid as “absolutely terrifying”. Local woman Mrs Bernie Slattery said that she had just stepped into the shop when the two raiders burst in, both wearing balaclavas.
“One of them stood near the door and he had a gun. He shouted that people were not to move and said ‘no mobile phones’. I had my hand in my pocket but I took it out very quickly - it was really frightening.”
She went on to say that the second raider actually sat up on the counter and shouted at the assistants. “He just yelled ‘give me the f***ing money - all of it!’ The two girls behind the counter were scared stiff and so were the people in the shop. There was an elderly woman in there and she was just petrified.”
Following the raid, the two left the shop and, according to the gardaí, made their getaway in a black Toyota hatchback car driven by a third man, which had apparently been parked outside.
Sergeant Seamus Rothwell commented that the gardaí were appealing for witnesses to the raid. “The two raiders were both dressed in dark clothing and were each around six feet tall and of medium build. The one with the gun remained at the door of the premises while the other went to the counter, pointed the knife at the assistant and told her to put the money in a red shopping bag,” he said.
Sergeant Rothwell continued by noting that the car used to make the escape was a three-door Toyota Corolla hatchback with a 1990s registration. “The car was apparently parked nearby and we are appealing for witnesses who may have seen it in the area, even up to an hour prior to the robbery.”
He added that CCTV footage was being examined which indicated that a car fitting this description could have been circling in the area as much as an hour before the raid. Air support was called in to aid the gardaí in the subsequent search for the getaway vehicle and the investigation is continuing.
Anyone who may have information to offer can contact Newbridge garda station on 045 431212.
Meanwhile, one comment from the garda spokesperson indicated that while the Boylesports raiders did make off with a sum in cash, they were not necessarily on a 100/ 1 winner. “The money they got would not be regarded as a substantial amount,” said Sergeant Rothwell.