THE Ennis home of Clare County Dog Warden Frankie Coote came under attack on Wednesday night.
Windows of his house were smashed by men wielding hatchets, while his van and his wife’s car were also attacked.
Speaking on Thursday Mr Coote said, “It was exactly nine o’clock, I was just going watching the news, and the window of the house came in. I thought it was shotguns, I heard bang, bang, bang, but it was two people attacking the van and the wife’s car with hatchets. There was awful damage done.”
He said that confrontation has been a frequent reality of his job, but it is very upsetting having it come to his home. “It was worse for my wife than myself. I’ve been assaulted, different things have happened me to do with my job, but nothing at the house.”
Mr Coote said that thousands of euros worth of damage had been done.
He said he spoke to one of the men involved, who he did not know. “I saw one young man, I said what’s going on. He just said ‘f**k you’ and ran away.”
While he said two men had been directly involved in the attack, he said that another one had possibly been their driver, as a vehicle had been waiting up the road from his house.
Owen Ryan
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.