Gardaí in Wicklow are investigating an aggravated burglary at the home of prominent solicitor Gerald Kean and his partner Lisa Murphy last night.
Four masked men entered the property at Three Mile Water, Brittas Bay, shortly after 8pm and threatened Ms Murphy, before tying her up and taking jewellery from a safe.
The thieves stole a number of items of jewellery that gardaí said have a "substantial value". Mr Kean today confirmed the value to be well in excess of €100,000.
Mr Kean said his partner was "very upset".
“Thank God, physically she’s fine other than a few cuts and bruises," he said. "It’s hard to put it into words, but everybody is here now and we’re just trying to mind her and look after her as best we can.”
Speaking on RTÉ's Liveline programme today, Mr Kean said Ms Murphy arrived home at about 8.05pm and was on a call to a friend. That call finished as she was opening the back door of the house.
"There’s electric gates, so she drove up, there were no cars in the driveway. She was at the door at about 8.08 as she was finishing the call."
Ms Murphy had left the door open behind her so that she could return to the car.
“She turned off the alarm and as she turned around she saw the shadow of one of four men who immediately rushed in after her, threw her to the ground and then immediately tied her hands behind her back with that heavy black plastic tape.”
"They started screaming at her – where’s Gerald’s ring, where’s Michael’s ring. At that time one of them pulled a ring off her hand – it cut her hand. They took another ring off the other hand."
Ms Murphy had told the men that Mr Kean was arriving behind her and they said they would "deal with him when he arrives".
The men dragged Ms Murphy upstairs to find the safe and produced two knives, one of which was held at her back and the other at her neck. They told her they could do things "the hard way" and that it was her choice.
"She gave them the code of the safe and then they threw her on the ground and hit her on the head with the back of their hand when she tried to look at them," Mr Kean said.
All four men were wearing balaclavas and "army gear" and were in their late 20s or early 30s, he said. Ms Murphy believed them to have "country" accents and not Dublin accents.
"They opened the safe and cleared out the entire safe. They were all gone within five to six minutes. They tied her up to a chair in the room – with heavy tape, tied her hands very tightly. One of them said after not to worry, everything would be fine and the other one said ‘give her a cushion for her back’," Mr Kean said.
After he became worried about not being able to contact his partner Mr Kean had driven home to find the house in darkness, he said.
He heard Ms Murphy screaming upstairs and initially thought she had been in a serious accident.
“I was in an awful state of shock. I ran downstairs and got the scissors and came back up and she was there …at about 10 o’clock. She was bound for just under two hours."
He said her hand was numb and she was cut and had a few bruises. She was "very distressed". He had then called gardaí and an ambulance.
"The guards have been incredible. They have been here all night and all day and they are tearing the place apart looking for four men," he said.
Mr Kean said there was "no insurance" on the stolen items as the couple had just had building work done on the house and the conditions required for the insurance had yet to be put in place. While there was CCTV at the house, it was not operational last night because of the building work.
He confirmed two rings taken from Ms Murphy during the attack were her engagement ring, and a second engagement ring given to her by former fiancée Michael Flately.
Gardaí are appealing to any witnesses who were in the area between 7pm and 9pm to contact them on 0404 60140, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.
Anyone who saw suspicious activity in this area in the week prior to the incident are also asked to contact gardaí.