Family recall ‘waking up in hell' after Dublin gang mistakenly firebombed their home

Sunday World

7 days ago

The innocent family, who had their dog burned to death, had their Ballyfermot home targeted in the middle of the night.
A family who were injured and whose dog was burned to death after their home was mistakenly firebombed overnight said they woke up in hell.
The innocent family's home was targeted in an early morning attack in Ballyfermot last week, causing extensive damage.
Detectives believe it was carried out as part of a worsening city feud involving a young drug dealer and junior associates of gangster Brian Rattigan.
At 2am Breda Curran heard her husband Pat's screams from the sitting room, where he had been due to having difficulties sleeping.
"I heard a big crashing sound… I jumped up and ran down the stairs. I could feel the heat coming up the stairs and it wasn't a normal heat,' Ms Curran said.
Brian Rattigan
The couple and their son ran out of the house into the garden, where they noticed that their sitting room window had a hole in it.
Ms Curran told RTÉ's Morning Ireland that she grabbed their garden hose and ran back in because their dog had been sleeping in the sitting room.
"We were calling his name, but the heat wouldn't let us back in. When we went into the sitting room door, the fire was everywhere,' she recalled.
"The whole place was up in flames… we tried to call the dog but it was too late. We just heard him whimpering and then everything went silent.'
She told how the family then stood out on the road, and watched on as their home burned to the ground.
Mr Curran recalled his own perspective, waking up in the sitting room to breaking glass and seeing a line of fire right in front of him.
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"It was like waking up in hell… I don't know how I didn't go on fire. All I done was I started screaming, 'Breda, Breda, Breda.'
"The thought came into my head, 'what did I do', I thought I was after falling asleep, did I do something to cause this?
"This is evil that came to our house,' Mr Curran said.
The Ballyfermot couple said being from old stock themselves, they did not have their home insured and would have felt a 'little bit more secure' if it had been.
"I don't know if I can even come back here. I don't know if I would feel safe here. I just feel totally different now. I loved me home,' Ms Curran said.
She told how she does shift work and would come home, clean up, have a shower and feed the dog. The couple said they don't drink or smoke, and spend their time watching Netflix in the evening.
'All I can think now is, what was all that for? It's gone,' Ms Curran said.
They thanked their neighbours, who, since the attack, have been coming over and empathising and even handed the couple money in envelopes.
"Strangers come up to us often,' Mr Curran said.
'I have to say, the community spirit in Ballyfermot, it is never talked about. But the respect, compassion, goodwill that is after coming from this community is something to be admired and it keeps me going.'