Posted online: Jan 20th, 2010

By Andrew Jennings
Reporter

KNIFE wielding thugs terrorised staff at two newsagents in Newbridge during a 24-hour period last week.
Last Tuesday (13th January) evening at approximately 6.45pm a young man entered Murtagh’s Newsagent at Roseberry brandishing a knife and demanded money.
Two members of staff were present in the shop at the time and were held at knifepoint while the thief “screamed” at them to open the tills.
One of the staff was able to hit the panic button to set off the shop alarm.
The alarm caused the raider to flee the scene without any cash – the only thing he took with him was an already open pack of cigarettes.
Upon leaving the shop he again threatened staff, yelling: “I’ll come back and kill you for this.”
The man, who had his face partially covered, has been described as 5ft 5” in height, slim build with brown hair and was wearing a dark hoodie and dark tracksuit bottoms.
Speaking to the Kildare Post this week, Murtagh’s owner spoke about the incident and how it left the staff involved “extremely distressed.
“It was really a terrifying ordeal for the staff. One of them was so shaken that she had to receive treatment from a doctor and has had to take time off work,” he revealed.
Before adding: “Thankfully nobody was injured and the panic button was pressed just in time. It’s business as usual and I’d like to thank the gardai in Newbridge from their immediate response following the incident.”
Meanwhile, just 24 hours later at approx 7pm on Wednesday (14th January) staff at the MACE newsagent at Allenwood Heights were also held at knifepoint during a similar robbery.
Again the culprit is described as 5ft 5” in height and wearing a black hat and dark clothing. He got away with a small amount of cash.
Gardai in Newbridge would like to speak to anybody that saw anything suspicious in either Roseberry or Allenwood Heights on the evenings in question to contact them immediately at 045 431 212.