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Stephen Carroll with his two young sons.
Burglary

Thieves steal watches engraved with messages for deceased man's sons

Stephen Carroll passed away from cancer just two months ago and had left the watches to be given to his sons on their 18th birthdays.

A DISTRAUGHT FAMILY is appealing for the public’s help in finding two stolen watches, engraved with messages for the sons of a man who passed away from cancer just two months ago. The two Omega watches were taken from his parents’ house in Blackrock, Co Louth on Saturday night.

Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Stephen Carroll’s sister Adele said the timing of the theft is “horrendous” as the two month anniversary of her brother’s death has just passed.

The watches were given to the 38-year-old as presents from his parents and his wife and he had them specially engraved before his death to be given to the boys, now aged eight and ten, on their 18th birthdays.

“Stephen wore the watches all the time, he loved them and he wanted to give them to the boys just so they would have something of him,” his sister said.

One watch is a Constellation model engraved on the back with ‘To Keelan love Daddy x’ while the other, a Seamaster model, is engraved with ‘To Senan love Daddy x’.

image

The stolen watches are similar to the two pictured above.

Carroll explained that her parents had been away at the time of the burglary and that a lot of items were taken but “that can all be replaced”.

“It’s the sentimental value of the watches – Stephen asked us to mind them for him”.

She said they had kept the watches in a safe at the house and were planning to put them into a safety deposit box in a bank this week.

“We were trying to be careful with them, we really were,” she said.

The family is hoping that someone will recognise them if the thieves try to sell them on, as they have those distinct engravings on the back of them. They are asking anyone who knows anything about the stolen watches to contact gardaí.

Read: Man injured by teens armed with bread knife in Dublin burglary>

Read: Almost half of Irish homeowners do not have a burglar alarm>

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