An Australian priest working in a West Belfast parish and a couple living next to a Co. Tyrone parochial house may have been threatened by the same armed intruders.
Fr Denis Ryan (70) from Ballarat, Victoria, was providing holiday cover at St Michael the Archangel Church in Andersontown for a second successive year when two men forced their way into the parochial house on the evening of Friday, July 22. They held Fr Ryan at gunpoint and ransacked the house, stealing cash and keys.
About two hours later, intruders forced their way into the home of a couple beside the parochial house on Dungannon’s Circular Road. They threatened the two – including a former church sacristan – at gunpoint before leaving with money and jewellery.
Fr Gerard Fox, speaking at morning Mass in Andersontown, described Fr Ryan as “very badly shaken” after the incident.
