The grandad of a baby that was taken by a car thief has told how the thug dumped the child “face first” on the ground before speeding off.
The shocking incident, in which a family’s car was stolen with their baby still inside, occurred on St Attracta’s Road in Cabra on Sunday - and has left the family “shook up,” the grandad told us. Gardai last night confirmed that one man had been arrested over the incident, while a massive amount of cocaine was also seized from the suspect's home.
Speaking out as the car was discovered abandoned yesterday, the grandfather told how the heartless thief took his granddaughter out of the vehicle after realising she was there - and placed her face-down on the path across the road from the local shop on Fassaugh Road. He recalled: “He took the baby out on the road outside the shopping centre.
Read more: Gardai make €350k cocaine haul in home of suspect in theft of car with baby inside
“He took her out and laid her down face first on the ground.” The distraught grandad told how his daughter was leaving his home at around 7pm on Sunday when she forgot something and came back inside - momentarily leaving her Skoda running with her seven year old boy and the baby girl inside. He explained: “She came in just to grab something and next of all the little fella jumped out of the car and came in screaming.
“I thought he was after falling over. He just said ‘someone’s robbing the car, someone’s robbing the car’, and we came out and the car was gone with the baby in the back. The little fella had jumped out when he jumped in.”
The mother of the child, who is in her 20s, then managed to flag down a passing car - and subsequently gave chase after the thief. “A girl came down the road and she spotted it and she stopped and my daughter jumped in and they went after the car,” the grandad said.
“They tried to chase him around but they lost him.” Speaking about the impact of the incident on the family, the man told how his daughter and grandchildren are left shaken by what happened. He said: “The mother is a bit shook up about the daughter. The little fella got a bit of a fright as well.
“We just have to wait and see now what the garda can do. They’re still investigating it and trying to find out what happened. I don’t think she (my daughter) wants anything to do with it, we’re just leaving it in the hands of the police.”
He added that gardai told him they had subsequently found the car abandoned. News of the incident first broke yesterday and has sent shockwaves across Cabra.
Tommy Macken, owner of the local ‘Nearby’ shop, which is situated directly across from where the baby girl was left said: “The shop was closed when it happened and the shutters were down. I got a phone call about it and came back to check the cameras just in case they picked anything up.
“Unfortunately they didn’t. But there’s a lot of shock around the area. You hear about it happening here, there and everywhere rather than it happening on your own doorstep.
“But Cabra is great. When somebody is in trouble we all unite and we help and back up each other and this is no different.”
Meanwhile, a woman whose house is situated in front of where the baby was left told how three women came to the child’s aid. She said: “Three girls came up and took the baby. I didn’t see anything after that. They had the baby in their arms and they were brilliant with it.
“I was inside feeding my granddaughter when I saw the girls running and screaming. That’s all I could see. It was just chaos.”
Gardai in Mountjoy are continuing to investigate, and last night confirmed that a man had been arrested over the incident.
"A male in his 40s has been arrested for an alleged offence contrary to Section 10 of the Criminal Law (Jurisdiction) Act, 1976, and he is currently being detained at Mountjoy Garda Station under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984," a garda spokesperson said.
Read Next:
Man arrested over theft of family car after baby left on roadside in Dublin
Large sum of money stolen during daytime robbery at city centre business
Cannabis and cigarettes worth over €200,000 seized from 'car parts' boxes
Vans smashed in Dublin suburb as gardai establish 24-hour presence on road
Paedophile surgeon Michael Shine praises decision to drop cases against him as 'right thing'
Sign up to the Dublin Live Newsletter to get all the latest Dublin news straight to your inbox
