A Cork mother has revealed how she feels unsafe in her own home home after being assaulted by a man who broke into her home at the weekend.
The woman revealed to local radio how she was woken from her sleep by a man who broke into her house in Gurranabraher on the northside of Cork city at 4am on Sunday morning. She woke when she felt his hand under her pyjama bottoms while her young son was sleeping nearby.
"We were all in a deep sleep and I felt something very unusual around the underwear area. I pushed it away and I went back to sleep and then it happened again," she said.
I sat up in the bed and I looked over. There was a man leaning over my son. It was a very big man, a very tall, stocky man. I pulled my son and I was uncontrollably screaming, telling him to leave.
"He then got up and tried to go back out through my daughter's bedroom but then he went down the stairs. He got in through my daughter's bedroom window. It's faulty and it has been for a long time."
the woman said her 16-year-old son rushed to her when he heard her screams, which woke her other children too, and helped her call the local Garda station.
"They were so frightened. They were shaking, we were all shaking ... We didn't know what to do, everyone was panicking ... The front door was wide open. He closed the door and then he dialed the Gurranabraher Garda Station and put me on to the guards. They came straight down."
The woman said she hopes a neighbour's security camera may have captured footage of the man.
She described the man as aged between 19 and 25, of stocky build and with dark, skintight hair. She said there was a strong smell of alcohol from him and he wore black runners.
Linda said she and her children feel unsafe in their home.
"I'm just trying to stay strong for the kids," she said.
I'm terrified, absolutely terrified. I don't sleep, I'm watching my kids. I won't sleep until they take me out of this house. What if he comes back? I'm just trying to get through until somebody comes and helps us.
"We were going to bed and my son said to me, 'is the man going to come back?'
"We were never happy with the conditions we live in but it was our little safe haven. Your home is where you feel safe. I just want to make sure now that my children are safe at night and we can lock doors and windows.
Gardaí have confirmed they are investigating an alleged sexual assault.
