Gardaí in County Meath are investigating an aggravated burglary at the home of a parish priest.
In the latest incident in which clergy have been targeted by robbers, Fr Gerard Rice, parish priest of Kilcloon, near Dunboyne, was accosted by three men demanding money when he answered the door of his presbytery in the early evening.
When he told them he did not have any, they searched him and took a small amount of cash.
They then searched the house but are not believed to have taken anything.
“There were three fellows at the door and they said, "we are not going to hurt you, we want money,” Fr Rice recalled later.
When he told them he had no money, they searched his shirt pocket ripping it as they did so.
Two of the intruders then made Fr Rice wait with them in hallway while the third did a search, in particular of the priest’s bedroom, where he said he did not have any money.
Fr Rice said two of the men were wearing hoodies around their faces and the third did not have his face covered and had a 'smig’, or small moustache.
In a bizarre turn to the incident, the priest asked the man whose face was uncovered where he was from, and he replied that he was from Celbridge.
Fr Rice described his assailants as being in their late teens or early 20s and said they spoke with neutral “midlands” accent but he was not able to see the vehicle in which they made their getaway.
SIC: CIN/IE
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