An 84-year-old woman who was robbed at knifepoint alongside her 79-year-old brother has said both of them "got an awful fright" during the hour-long ordeal in which a thief threatened to stab them if they did not give him money.
The thief also cut the telephone line and removed bulbs from fittings in the man's home on the northside of Cork during the incident.
Mary O'Halloran, who is recovering at home in Ballyphehane Co Cork today having been discharged from hospital, said it was a shocking experience for them both.
Her brother Gerry is still being treated at the Mercy University Hospital after yesterday's traumatic incident in which they were threatened and robbed at knifepoint by a masked man at Gerry's home on Boyce's Street in Gurranabraher, on Cork's northside.
The street is a quiet cul-de-sac, with mainly elderly residents.
Speaking this afternoon, Mary said they "got an awful fright".
"I'm not feeling too bad today but trying to get over it. Gerry is still in hospital. He was not hurt but is shaken so they kept him in and I went home as I am looking after my sister as well."
"We couldn't do anything else but to give it because he was going to stab us"
Mary says she visits her brother from her southside home every Saturday and Sunday morning to get things ready for him and his home help.
When she tried to get into the house yesterday she was unable, because the thief had the door blocked. Her brother Gerry shouted out to her to ring the guards and the burglar then "shoved" her in, she said.
The thief, who spoke with a Cork accent, threatened them both with "a long knife with a blade on it," holding it up to her throat and to Gerry's as he demanded money from them, she said.
"We couldn't do anything else but to give it because he was going to stab us."
He fled the house taking €1,800 in cash with him. The alarm was raised by a homehelp who arrived shortly afterwards.
Mary said her brother Gerry has been left very shaken by the whole incident.
"He's afraid inside in the hospital. I was talking to him on the phone. The girl let me talk to him because you are not let into the ward and he was still shaken he told me."
The 84-year-old went back to tidy up her brother's house today.
A GoFundMe page set up by paramedics who tended to the siblings has raised over €30,000 - far exceeding its original €2,000 goal.
Paramedics Keith Harrington and Sean Healy, who attended the scene, were moved by what occurred.
Mr Harrington said that they decided to establish the page to financially assist the pensioners in the wake of the troubling incident.
"They are an elderly brother and sister and have been deeply traumatised by their experience. They were held at knifepoint in their home for over an hour. They are now being treated in the Mercy hospital. It would be great if we could alleviate their financial worries at least," he said.
Meanwhile, investigating gardaí are appealing for information and are keen to speak with anyone who was in the vicinity of Boyce's Street or neighbouring streets between 6.30am and 9am yesterday, and who may have witnessed anything, to come forward.
They are also appealing to road users with video footage from the Gurranabraher area between those times, to make it available to them.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact Gurranabraher Garda Station on 021-4946200, or any garda station.
