Woman robbed and assaulted at 3am in Bandon

A WOMAN who was walking through Bandon at 3am last Sunday morning was set upon and attacked, and had her handbag stolen.

Gardaí in Bandon said this week that they are hopeful of identifying the male who robbed and assaulted the woman before three local teenagers came to help her.

The suspect is described as being 6ft tall and was wearing black clothing with ‘Puma’ on his jumper. The shocking incident took place on Sunday December 1st at approximately 3am when the woman, who was walking on Lower Castle Rd, was approached by a male. The male stole her handbag, knocked her to the ground and assaulted her.

Garda Supt Brendan Fogarty said the investigation is ongoing and that it was the first crime of this nature that they have had in Bandon in a long time.

‘Lots of manpower hours have gone into the investigation so far and this includes examining CCTV footage from premises in the area so we are hopeful we will get a breakthrough,’ said Supt Fogarty.

The three young men who came to the woman’s assistance are believed to have been teenagers. But a relative said they were too traumatised to talk to The Southern Star. The gardaí said the woman did not require medical attention.

‘We are continuing to appeal to any witnesses to contact us and we are very grateful to the three people who took their civic responsibility seriously and came to her assistance on the night and she is making a good recovery,’ said Supt Fogarty.

Gardaí are appealing for anyone who was in the Castle Rd area of Bandon between 2.45am and 3.30am on December 1st and who may have witnessed the incident to contact them. They are also appealing to anyone who may have seen the suspect earlier that evening to contact Bandon Garda Station on 023-8852200, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800-666-111 or any garda station.

Bandon is still without a public CCTV system, despite other towns like Skibbereen and Dunmanway having theirs in place in recent years.

Chief Supt Con Cadogan said that new legislation for CCTV is currently being prepared by the Dáil, but it will take a few months before being finalised.

‘The towns that have CCTV already came under a previous old scheme and we are hoping the new legislation will be ready by next summer so that Bandon will have 30 cameras installed,’ he said.