House robbed

teaglei

Please pass this message on......Monday night / tuesday morning (8th of march 2011) the apartment i share with my boyfriend and our friend was broken into in doughiska, whoever did this was professional, they must have been following me & surveying our movements for sometime prior to the robbery. The reason we were broken into was 3 weeks ago i bought a brand new 5 door opel corsa 1.3tdi ecoflex, registration 2011-g-1472 & the car was dark grey in colour.
Whomever this was they knew which bedroom we had as a spare room & used that room to gain access to the house, forcing the window open without much/any damage.
My car had never once been in view from the roadway i always parked at the back behind the oil tank, which show's in the last three weeks they had seen me & watched somewhere along the way, our apartment is a large house split in two & our only access point is at the back of the house.
Once inside as the three of us slept they went into our housemate's room as he slept and took his wallet, they went through the hotpress,all the kitchen cupboards, even the boiler room. They ramsacked the entire house, taking with them a 32" hdmi faltscreen television with a grey rim the whole way round the edge, a canon pixma all in one printer scanner grey on top & black around all the sides. A parkardbell notebook laptop, xbox elite & many games a headset & two controllers one black, one grey.
And most upsetting to me was my black advent laptop, on this were all my pictures & memories of what had to have been the most special person in my life my nan who passed away at the end of last march. This had huge sentimental value, i can't even begin to put in into words!
If anyone hears of any of these items being bought or sold or has any information however small i would plead with them to contact me on <snip>@gmail.Com or by contacting mill st. Garda station galway on 091-538000.There people were professional as we all slept they went through everything an we never heard a thing.
Again to all my friends, or anyone who has ever known me even people who don't I beg you to pass this message on to anyone & everyone you may know, I may be grasping at straws but that is all i have, its highly likely my car is no longer in galway & could even be as far as england.
I would be eternally grateful for any information & would reward whatever help I got!
Thank you so much for reading this we have all been left very shaken & upset by this & I would do anything to have my pictures of my beloved nan back.
If anyone has any advice i'd appricate it,
Thanks,

padi89

Get the Caps Lock finger printed . Seriously though your post is awful hard to read.

Sorry for your loss that's a pretty ****ty thing to happen.

gordongekko

my eyes hurt

zero19

Wow that was a big haul for them, sorry to hear that. You should check out the pawn shops in town for the electrical stuff.

RachaelVO

Sorry to hear this, that is just awful, the tip about checking out the pawn shops is a good one, also check out markets and boot sales, they could be getting used too.

I hope at the very least you get your laptop back!

Michael Angelo.

"THEY WENT INTO OUR HOUSEMATE'S ROOM AS HE SLEPT AND TOOK HIS WALLET, THEY WENT THROUGH THE HOTPRESS, ALL THE KITCHEN CUPBOARDS, EVEN THE BOILER ROOM. THEY RAMSACKED THE ENTIRE HOUSE, TAKING WITH THEM A 32" HDMI FALTSCREEN TELEVISION WITH A GREY RIM THE WHOLE WAY ROUND THE EDGE, A CANON PIXMA ALL IN ONE PRINTER SCANNER GREY ON TOP & BLACK AROUND ALL THE SIDES. A PARKARDBELL NOTEBOOK LAPTOP, XBOX ELITE & MANY GAMES A HEADSET & TWO CONTROLLERS ONE BLACK, ONE GREY.
AND MOST UPSETTING TO ME WAS MY BLACK ADVENT LAPTOP"

Id be having a word with your flatmate.......

Columc

advice:

take off caps lock, contact the gardai, contact insurance.

teaglei

sorry about the caps i just copied & pasted from another place i had it, yea contacted the garda they havn't had any/much luck & told me the guy investigating it not back until friday night. my facebook account was logged onto at 1.15 yesterday from near ealing in london & my gmail was logged into from dublin sometime the day before i think
the insurance asked me did i know who did it & apparently that is all going to take weeks
& my housemate well ha hes my friend for years, i know every single person he knows so i havn't got him on my suspect list, they took my boyfriends only key for his car too but decided his car wasn't worth the effort, im devestated about the laptop well about it all but particularly it
i may be grasping at straws but people just advised me to post it anywhere & everywhere possible
thanks for everything

biko

Just use www.convertcase.net I never will understand why people use all upper case as it actually just turns people away.

Hope everything works out for you.

Raskolnikov

Are you renting, would a lot of people in the area know you? Definitely sounds like you've been robbed by one of your neighbours.

teaglei

happy now :P:P cap locks off :o

teaglei

yea we are renting, we have been living here maybe 6 mths prior to that one of my best friends & a friend of hers happily lived her for nearly two years, we don't live in an estate it is a detatched dormer with quite a large garden larger trees going up either side of the garden & fields at the back with just one house maybe a couple of acres over on the right & that is our landlords place. the dormer is split in two we have most of the ground floor & our access point is at the back & a couple have the front room & upstairs.
but you are right someone somewhere seen me, all i have done is drive to Athenry once, Williamstown once back & forth to work every day, & to visit my mother, i was conscious not to have my car in view anywhere I went especially round the house, but then again it was that new unless you got hold of the keys you were not going anywhere with it, our neighbours at the front did not even know I had a new car as unless you actually came round the back of the house you would't seen it & it is a good distance up the driveway from the main road.
someone had really scouted our place out like they knew exactly which room to go into I definately think they were local but I also think they had somewhere planned for the car to go & I tend not to think it is in Galway anymore

sgthighway

Sorry to hear. If I have read your posts properly the chances are; they loaded up your car with everything and where on the ferry a few hours later in the car. Car will be cloned over there and will probably end back over here as an import.

At lease the Insurance Company will give you the full price of the car. Go out and buy a new one and park it in a public place where it will be seen and not in a discrete place where somebody can load up your car if you get robbed again.

Get onto your landlord and ask him to fit an alarm that can be armed at night time while people sleep.

dolphin city

have you got home insurance?

Also its a bad idea to have all your memories on a laptop. Do you not have any "old fashioned" photos? As for the memories - they will stay in your head.

teaglei

Thanks for the advice like a right fool, I hadn't taxed it yet to be honest because I didn't have the money that past few weeks, all the parer work for the car was in the car, i could kick myself!!
so it will be weeks before i get a car, because apparently i have to get forms sent out from the tax office get them sighed & stamped by two other groups, that will take two weeks & only then can i give that stuff to my insurance.
an alarm is being put in today, but i also want them to change the windows (they are those old teak windows) & were not a bother to open, my boyfriend has the same windows at his home house & reckons times he got locked out as a young lad he could open them no bother with a screwdriver & clothes hanger without damaging them.
they don't want to change the windows but i don't think i'll be sleep alarm or not if the windows are not changed, there is still no way that they are stopping opening the place up easily.
but all we shall see i will have to put on my best debating face once again when i see the landlord this evening

teaglei

yea alot of the pictures were ones i scanned ontop the laptop before she died, some were very old family pictures from as far back as 1910 and even before, i fell out with my aunt who is in possession of them now when nan was dying, we fell out very badly & i know i won't see them again from her anyways, she accused me of trying to steal them that time when all i wanted was a copy, i knew better than to have them only saved on the laptop but like other things it was just put on the long finger, feel like a prize twat now.
she was closer to me than anyone & i to her, it has upset in so much but there is nothing i can do except like in hope that something will show up somewhere, or that those f***ers will be caught, althought the way they went about it i doubt it was there 1st or 2nd time doing something like this or even their 10th
oh & as silly as it sounds, no we had/have no house insurance we all moved in afew months ago together i had house insurance at home, as did my other half & i don't know we just didn't think, if it had been our own place hell yea we would have had insurance but when we were just renting I don't did we not think or not realise the stuff we had accumulated over the years, but to be perfectly honest it hadn't crossed my mind to get it, he hadn't been working for months & i am on 100 quid less than i was a couple of years back so we were cutting corners i guess just to keep our pennies

Asmodean

Sorry to hear that op, i can only imagine how awful that must have been.

Jesus i really have lost faith in boards though, someone comes on looking for a bit of help and the first thing people do is have a go over using caps. The internet really does turn people into dicks

happyoutscan

Asmodean wrote: »

Jesus i really have lost faith in boards though, someone comes on looking for a bit of help and the first thing people do is have a go over using caps. The internet really does turn people into dicks

My sentiments exactly, didn't post on this thread when I first opened it as I didn't want to get an infraction/ban. Very petty imo to have a go at someone over caps when they are having such a terrible day.

Back on topic, sorry to hear your bad news OP. Hope something turns up, you never know.

softmee

This is scary , but the good think is - nothing happened to you. Who knows who they were and what they could do if you would wake up.
I was always affraid to be alone at home at night, now i will be even more.

By the way, its hard to belive they could find your car keys and all the stuff and take it out in darkness without waking you up... (not saying its not true)

teaglei

to be honest i havn't posted on this except on some occasions, i didn't even know you could change from caplocks without havin to retype the whole thing but ara its not the worst thing that has happened
o lord don't talk to i can not believe not one of us woke or did not hear a thing the three of us had been out sat night at a friends until 5a.m. in the morning.
sun night neither myself or my boyfriend really slept at all sunday night both of us were so restless, so come monday night after work i was shattered as was he & both of us just conked it, usually whatever about me he would be a very light sleeper but i still can't believe we never heard a thing.
althought i really do doubt they did it all in the dark, i honestly think they would have turned on the living room light, i got up at six to find the place ramsacked but they had opened the curtains too....like the left the boiler room light on.
my boyfriend reckons -well we all do, that they came in specifically for the car id been that wreaked that night id left them in my jacket pocket which i never ever usually do. but these boys whoever they were, they were pro's at it & i reckon if the keys had been in our bedroom they would have come in & the would have been roaring at us.
originally i was so so angry for not waking when all this was going on but they were in no rush, im not so sure they cared about getting caught i think if one of us woke, came out to investigate what was going on we would have got an awful beating.,
our house mate & i are always always up at some stage in the night, i have known him for years & lived with him before i have never known him not to get up to go to the bathroom at some stage in the night if not afew times, it was the one night neither of us got up & slept threw the whole night, it might sound silly but im convinced something be in a guardian angel or what something kept us all in our beds asleep for our own good

softmee

Thats awful what you've gone through.. I was wondering recently about keys for rental houses. Think how many people would rent one house/apartment during lets say 5 years. How do you know who was living somewhere before you? I had to make some additional keys twice and this made me think -what if some ........ would do the same and move out and after a while try to rob property they were living in. That would be easy. :mad: I think landlord should change lock every time when changing tenants.

teaglei

softmee wrote: »

Thats awful what you've gone through.. I was wondering recently about keys for rental houses. Think how many people would rent one house/apartment during lets say 5 years. How do you know who was living somewhere before you? I had to make some additional keys twice and this made me think -what if some ........ would do the same and move out and after a while try to rob property they were living in. That would be easy. :mad: I think landlord should change lock every time when changing tenants.

incidently the girl who lives at the front of the house with her husband said the very same thing, luckily it was one of my closest friends & another friend who lived her before me for a good two years, but you are right it should be common practice to change the locks when new tenants move in even if the are only switching with with an older one from a different property, sure who would know or put two & two together,
god love my poor mother had to get her locks changed too, on my laptop was her address & they had a copy of her house key too, she lives alone was a total nightmare

Cavehill Red

Really sorry to hear the OP's experience.

Can only speak about Dublin myself, but the CSO figures indicate that burglaries are up threefold in most Dublin areas since 2007.
Needless to say, detection and prosecution rates aren't.
I'd really like to see the Gardai pull their fingers out of their asses and start detecting some of the culprits. And I'd like to see a new Criminal Justice bill dealing severely with thieves.
Times are hard now for most everyone, and when someone gets robbed on top of everything else, it can be enough to put them under.
And when people lose things like photos of their gran, or my mate's thesis, which have value only to the original owner, it just makes things so much worse.

softmee

Anybody knows any good locksmith in town?

beagle001

I was chatting to a friend of mine in the Gardai about this,we live up in Doughiska and it certainly brings it home when it happens locally.
I won`t say what unit he works in but he told me that 2 cars were on surveillance Mon night between 10-2am in the Doughiska area and he reckons these guys had keys and may have left a window open to throw of the scent.
Certain estates in Doughisak have a constant police presence and the Gardai know who is at what,if I were the OP I would be looking at things like could a workman have copied your keys or ex tenants keys.
Burgalaries are usually opportunistic and for them to confidently enter your residens they must have been assured easy access.
Feel really sorry for you and I am definitely keeping the hurley by my bedside locker as of now.

seriouslysweet

Best locksmith is down the west near Bell, Book and Candle. Forget your hurley, big burley dog and they won't come near you. Also, alarms are great. Hope insurance pays out.

Cavehill Red

Cavehill Red wrote: »

Can only speak about Dublin myself, but the CSO figures indicate that burglaries are up threefold in most Dublin areas since 2007.
Needless to say, detection and prosecution rates aren't.
I'd really like to see the Gardai pull their fingers out of their asses and start detecting some of the culprits.

The Guards aren't the problem.

The problem is that repeat offenders are given lenient sentences and on top of this are given half their sentences off for ''Good Behaviour'' :rolleyes:

I'd bet my house that the lads who robbed the OP were in jail in the last year and have 20+ convictions.

The system is a joke, we hear about political reform, the only reform they should be talking about is judicial.
Forget about the poor standard of class rooms, kids can still learn.
We need to build a few prisons and increase sentences for repeat offenders and remove this good behaviour ****.

If it costs too much to keep them jailed then you cut corners, put 20 of the scumbags in a cell and feed them porridge.

If anyone remembers the last election, Fine Gael were really pushing the ''Tough on crime'' line, there wasn't a peep of it this time.

I know a lad who's been locked up a number of times, he was telling me about fines he had. Guards came to the prison he was in asking him ''Do you want to pay this?'' he just said no to every one of them, because he couldn't even get anything else added onto his sentence anyway.

Absolute mockery of a system and it directly relates to this incident among many others.

softmee

seriouslysweet wrote: »

Best locksmith is down the west near Bell, Book and Candle. Forget your hurley, big burley dog and they won't come near you. Also, alarms are great. Hope insurance pays out.

Burley dog?

Wompa1

gilberto_eire wrote: »

The Guards aren't the problem.

The problem is that repeat offenders are given lenient sentences and on top of this are given half their sentences off for ''Good Behaviour'' :rolleyes:

I'd bet my house that the lads who robbed the OP were in jail in the last year and have 20+ convictions.

The system is a joke, we hear about political reform, the only reform they should be talking about is judicial.
Forget about the poor standard of class rooms, kids can still learn.
We need to build a few prisons and increase sentences for repeat offenders and remove this good behaviour ****.

If it costs too much to keep them jailed then you cut corners, put 20 of the scumbags in a cell and feed them porridge.

If anyone remembers the last election, Fine Gael were really pushing the ''Tough on crime'' line, there wasn't a peep of it this time.

I know a lad who's been locked up a number of times, he was telling me about fines he had. Guards came to the prison he was in asking him ''Do you want to pay this?'' he just said no to every one of them, because he couldn't even get anything else added onto his sentence anyway.

Absolute mockery of a system and it directly relates to this incident among many others.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that noticed that. The one thing that impressed me about Fine Gael last time was their stance on harsher sentences and the possibility of boot camps for young offenders. None of it this time.

I know there would be an overhead on housing extra prisoners and running boot camps but I'd imagine long term if it deterred criminals then it would be worth every penny

Cavehill Red

While in agreement with most of what's been said in the last few posts, I would still like to point out that detection rates for muggings, burglary and car thefts are abysmal.
There should be a pay incentive scheme for Gardai, with bonuses for good rates of detection leading to prosecutions and deductions for failing to bring at least 20% of cases to court.

Mrs OBumble

gilberto_eire wrote: »

.
Forget about the poor standard of class rooms, kids can still learn.
We need to build a few prisons and increase sentences for repeat offenders and remove this good behaviour ****.

I couldn't disagree more.

Sure every society has a proportion of people who are intrinsically criminal, and a proportion of people who will learn and rise above difficult circumstances. But the majority of folks aren't like that: they become what they are through a combination of circumstances.

But there's plenty of evidence (and no, I don't have links, have been told about it by folks who do) that decent education and social work systems can make a huge difference for the kids who are marginal.

Sending kids to school in drafty pre-fabs with classes of 30+ is pretty much guaranteed to give 'em the message that society doesn't give a s*it about them. So of course they don't give a s*it in return.

And as for the time off for good behaviour: spend about 30 seconds thinking about how to manage the behaviour of prisoners. You need to give them consequences for behaviour which isn't quite criminal, but which makes life difficult for everyone around them. Maybe you could extend their sentences - but would you really want a legal process every time someone "accidentally" tripped and knocked someone over? Doing it the other way (decreasing sentences for not doing bad stuff) gives a incentive to behave well, and avoids the paperwork.