A PENSIONER WHO was robbed at knifepoint alongside her brother in Cork city on Sunday morning has spoken about the ordeal faced by the elderly siblings.

Mary O’Halloran was visiting her brother Gerry at his home in Gurranbraher on the northside of Cork city on Sunday morning when the attack happened.

A masked man armed with a knife entered the home and threatened them, demanding cash. The burglary lasted for more than an hour before the attacker fled on foot with a sum of money and the alarm was raised.

Mary said the attacker held the knife up to her throat and scratched her hand while persistently asking for money. She said the siblings were shaking with fright during the ordeal.

“My brother was shaking because he had a stroke. He wanted money, asking me for money all the time. And I said I wasn’t giving it to him. In the end of it then we had to give it to him,” Mary told RTÉ News.

A GoFundMe page set up by two paramedics who attended the scene has now been closed. It quickly raised over €31,000 – far exceeding its original target of €2,000 goal.

Paramedics Keith Harrington and Sean Healy said that set up the fundraiser to financially assist the pensioners in the wake of the attack.

Gardaí are appealing for information regarding the incident and are keen to speak with anyone who was in the vicinity of Boyce’s Street between 6.30am and 9am on Sunday, and who may have witnessed anything, to come forward.

They are also appealing to road users with video footage from the Gurranabraher area between those times, to make it available to them.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Gurranabraher Garda Station on 021-4946200, or any garda station.