A nine-month-old girl abandoned on a Dublin pavement by a man who stole her parents’ car was “oblivious to the ordeal”, according to her grandfather.
However, he told The Irish Times his grandson (nine) who managed to scramble out of the car was “very shocked and upset” by the ordeal.
“He came into the house screaming ‘he took the car, he took the car’,” said the grandfather, who asked that the family’s names not be used. “We were all frantic when it happened.”
Detectives at Mountjoy Garda station were on Thursday night questioning a suspect after he was caught in the car in north Dublin in the early hours of Thursday.
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[ Full report: Man arrested after family car stolen with baby girl still insideOpens in new window ]
Keys in car
The incident occurred on St Attracta Road, Cabra, at about 7pm on Sunday. The parents of the children had briefly left their son and daughter unattended in their Skoda Octavia when an opportunist criminal was passing and spotted the keys in the car before driving off.
The young boy was able to get out of the car and ran inside to his relatives to raise the alarm. They then flagged down a passing car and tried to pursue the stolen vehicle with their daughter inside.
However, the man who had stolen the car stopped on nearby Fassaugh Road and left the child on the pavement before taking off again. Three women saw him abandoning the baby and went to her aid as she lay face down on the pavement about 1km from her home. The girl was unharmed and was quickly reunited with her parents.
