Has your home ever been broken into?

pikachucheeks

Following on from Tallus' thread about his house being robbed, I'm just wondering how many people in AH have been burgled in the past? (Whether it be a family home, house share etc)

If yes, perhaps you'd like to share your experience and if no, perhaps you'd like to explain why you think this is or offer tips on how to protect your home.

My family's house was broken into when I was a small child. My mum woke up because the burglar downstairs dropped the computer he was trying to steal. She thought it might have been me falling out of bed and checked to see I was OK before returning to bed.
Woke up in the morning to find a few things gone downstairs, but no one was hurt, which was the main thing.

My uncle's business was broken into one night as well. At the time, he made sandwiches. They broke a window to get in. They left his phone, his computer, his fax machine and all his technical equipment in his office and instead just robbed a bottle of whiskey he'd bought as a present for a friend and smashed up a few frozen chickens they found in the freezers!

So, over to you!

I know it's a pretty ... depressing subject but if anyone has any advice or experiences to share, it might be beneficial to others.

Miguel_Sanchez

My home hasn't been broken into while I've been living here but the cops did a dawn raid on it a few weeks after I moved it.

They weren't looking for me though which was just as well because I hadn't time to put pants on.

Keogg

only once, and this was back when I was in senior or might even habe been junior infants. My mam was collecting me from school, I think she had come straight from work so there hadnt been anyone in the house beforehand and when we got home they had put the catch on the door from the inside, but they weren't in the house anymore.

Didn't really freak me out at the time, but needless to say, the slightest noise I hear from my house now scares the living f*ck outta me! I'm totally paranoid about being robbed/murdered/mugged/etc.

Yea, I actually posted it in Tallus' thread ages ago. Broken into after night out, open bedroom door because of commotion and there's a knife to my neck. Other guy has a hurl and a stick with nails and they're looking for a guy who lived there before us who owed drug money..

They left after bout half an hour and the guards, who had been called by another housemate when the door got kicked in, arrived about 5 mins later. BS response for Westside in Galway..

OutlawPete

Caught a guy breaking in one night.

I was watching TV and he starting climbing in the window.

Few shouts and he climbed out, but I then foolishy opened the hall door and hurled abuse and him and a crowd of young guys.

Last week caught a guy trying to open my car with screwdriver at 7pm also and went outside in just boxers and a t-shirt and told him to get ta fcuk away from the car.

It's a rough here on the southside, I wanna go home to the northside.

Hogzy

Never (Touch wood!!!touches penis)

1. I live at the end of a cul de sac so that in itself is a deterrent.
2. I have a dog that looks like a Wolf crossed with a polar bear (Samoyed)
3. We have 3 security lights around our house
4.Light is always left on at night time.
5. House is always occupied during the day bar for maybe an hour or two.

Think this is probably the reason we have never had an intruder so far!

entropi

Never broken into, they would want to be really stupid though considering where I live (south inner city). Numerous knackers and drug dealers live closeby, I've two hurleys and my hurling helmet by my bed, a hammer under it and kitchen has many steak knives just incase it ever came to it.

I've only heard of one break in in this area in 10+ years...

IvySlayer

Never, nearly once though.

A man knocked on my front door, and there were about 5 people around the side of the house ready to burst in, my dog managed to scare them off!

digme

while i was asleep in my room some bastard tried to climb in my window, i woke up to find him half ways in my window, i jumped up ran into he kitchen, got a big knife and chased the ****er down the road in my jocks,rang the guards and they told me, i was off my tits to do such a thing
true story.

starbelgrade

I've a place that I rent out in Amsterdam that got "broken" into once, but not for the purposes of nicking stuff - a couple of crusties found the door unlocked & just stayed there for a few weeks until a couple I'd rented the place out to for a weekend, discovered them there when they arrived at the apartment.

The crusties welcomed them in, offered them some spliff, which they accepted, then they cooked them dinner & politely left.

There was no damage to the apartment - in fact when I checked the place out a week later, one of them had done a rather nice drawing, which he'd framed & hung in the bathroom.

If ever I get broken into again, I hope it's the same dudes who do it!

GLaDOS

Yeah once, I would have been 9 at the time. Was the night of my grandmothers funeral. My mam had left all my grandmothers jewellery on the kitchen table, but they didn't take it, probably just wanted cash. Thankfully we keep our kitchen door locked so they couldn't get into the rest of the house. Can't remember if they were ever caught. We got an alarm after that and haven't had any incidents since.

bronte

Never, thank God.
I have a fairly impressive guitar that I'd happily smash over the head of anyone who tried, mind. :mad:

KeithM89_old

Not my house thankfully but the neighbours got robbed a few years ago - the dad bet the livin ****e out of the guy. It was great to see but id probably just brick it if someone broke in to mine

SoulTrader

Hogzy wrote: »

I live at the end of a cul de sac so that in itself is a deterrent.

I thought houses at the end of cul-de-sacs were more likely to be broken into, no? Anyway, when I lived in a rented one, in Galway, it was broken into one Christmas. I was up home and I got a call from my flatmate who had returned to the house after it being empty for a few days. I lived with two girls so the knackers who did it mostly stole my stuff - my clothes, camera, cds and videos and anything they left behind was ripped / torn beyond use.

Strange thing was, even though the house had been empty for 4 days, I think I can pinpoint the exact time it happened. A couple of days after Christmas, in the evening, I began to feel a real sense of dread / fear, and I kept telling myself something was wrong. Even my Mum approached me and asked what was wrong with me. Then, when my flatmate phoned a couple of days later, I reckoned that was why I was feeling like that.

I was a lot younger then, and so attached to my material possessions that it made me more angry and sad than I should've been. I'm a very private person and I just couldn't stand the invasion of privacy. I moved out of the house a couple of weeks later

recylingbin

starbelgrade wrote: »

I've a place that I rent out in Amsterdam that got "broken" into once, but not for the purposes of nicking stuff - a couple of crusties found the door unlocked & just stayed there for a few weeks until a couple I'd rented the place out to for a weekend, discovered them there when they arrived at the apartment.

The crusties welcomed them in, offered them some spliff, which they accepted, then they cooked them dinner & politely left.

There was no damage to the apartment - in fact when I checked the place out a week later, one of them had done a rather nice drawing, which he'd framed & hung in the bathroom.

If ever I get broken into again, I hope it's the same dudes who do it!

Love it.

rossie1977

not sure if this counts but i was staying over in athlone for the weekend of my friends grad and while we were out in town the house was broken into (normal everyday thing for willow park in athlone though :eek:)

the cops caught them coming out of another house on the same road, muppets

Degsy

Both my grandparents ended up in hospital at the same time several years ago.

Within 24 hours thier house had been burgled and my grannies wedding ring and jewlery had been stolen...some dirty,stinking bastard who worked in beaumont hospital knew the house was empty and either robbed it himself or got an accomplice to do it.

For two whole weeks my mother had to call round to the empty house and turn lights on etc to give the impression there was somebody home.

The damage was done however,my granny never felt secure in the house again especially after my grandad died a few months after the burglary.

I hope that the scum who robbed the place die roaring in agony and burn forever in hell afterwards.

Panda

Nope and if it does ever happen, i hope its not tonight *wink* *wink*
coz my leg is broken *wink* *wink* and i wouldnt be able to chase them with my big ass machete.

recylingbin

rossie1977 wrote: »

not sure if this counts but i was staying over in athlone for the weekend of my friends grad and while we were out in town the house was broken into (normal everyday thing for willow park in athlone though :eek:)

the cops caught them coming out of another house on the same road, muppets

I broke into a house in willow park years ago. I had had a skinful of drink and was bringing some young one back for a coffee. I put the key in the door, but it wouldn't turn. I figured that the lads had come in and stuck the latch on the lock . So, I broke in. And went to the door to let yer one in.
Took her into the kitchen whereupon I realised I was in the wrong house.
Left sharpish.
Went back around the next day to explain myself. They never even knew I'd been there.

Holsten

It has, couple of years ago one of the windows was left open and some little scummer climbed in.

entropi

bronte wrote: »

Never, thank God.
I have a fairly impressive guitar that I'd happily smash over the head of anyone who tried, mind. :mad:

Forgot about this...I've a hefty electric guitar and a 10 watt amp by my bed too:p

starbelgrade

Master of Nothing wrote: »

Forgot about this...I've a hefty electric guitar and a 10 watt amp by my bed too:p

You could plug in the guitar, crank it up to full, whack a windmill chord in the style of Pete Townshend and frighten the bejaysus out of the intruders with the wall of sound from your massive 10 watts of pure noise!

SoulTrader

Master of Nothing wrote: »

electric guitar and a 10 watt amp by my bed too

I thought you were implying you were going to play them a really bad tune for a second :pac:

bronte

Master of Nothing wrote: »

Forgot about this...I've a hefty electric guitar and a 10 watt amp by my bed too:p

More times I've heard a bang during the night and wandered around with that thing over my shoulder!

entropi

Abigayle wrote: »

They left the flat screen, the surround sound, everything of value in the house.. but they fucking stole my tea-cups and saucers. The bastards. :mad:

Must be some thirsty work that...feckers I hope the cups broke and cut them badly:p

starbelgrade wrote: »

You could plug in the guitar, crank it up to full, whack a windmill chord in the style of Pete Townshend and frighten the bejaysus out of the intruders with the wall of sound from your massive 10 watts of pure noise!

Yeah, throwing out some arpeggios at them like Yngwie Malmsteen at his best:pac:

Some of this would go down well too:p Check out 2:15 into it especially lol

Guitar SFX

stellarartois

SoulTrader wrote: »

Strange thing was, even though the house had been empty for 4 days, I think I can pinpoint the exact time it happened. A couple of days after Christmas, in the evening, I began to feel a real sense of dread / fear, and I kept telling myself something was wrong. Even my Mum approached me and asked what was wrong with me. Then, when my flatmate phoned a couple of days later, I reckoned that was why I was feeling like that.

I was a lot younger then, and so attached to my material possessions that it made me more angry and sad than I should've been. I'm a very private person and I just couldn't stand the invasion of privacy. I moved out of the house a couple of weeks later

I've never heard such nonsense in my life.

Fizman

OutlawPete wrote: »

Caught a guy breaking in one night.

I was watching TV and he starting climbing in the window.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0xgwy4GjSU

:pac:

msg11

Yes Twice,

The first time the guy was so mentally challanged he could not open a baby gate and decided it would be a great idea to attempt this with us in the house at the time. He got an ash tray fired towards his head. Missed unfortunately. And he went swiftly screaming out of the house threw the back door. Also, planted himself in the ground when he tripped on a cable. Why he was screaming I will never know.

The second time, the person must have been in too check the paint on the walls or something. Took a load of coppers from a jar, left an unreal amount of windows in the house open and left .

Pretty_Pistol

When I was 17 I was watching TV on a Friday night. I heard someone come in the back door in the kitchen and fumbling about. I thought it was one of my brothers coming back from the pub. Then I got a really strong smell of alcohol and it didn't smell like either of them so I went out and it was some guy. He grabbed the car keys and stole the car. I was useless and just stood in shock for a few seconds before I called the Gardai.

stovelid

A house I was renting (with others) was broken into a few times when I was a student.

PK2008

Back in 1990, around Christmas time, my family and I were supposed to be going on holiday to France. The morning we were supposed to leave everyone got up late, in the panic they left me home, alone.................



Long story short, hilarity ensued

WindSock

stellarartois wrote: »

I've never heard such nonsense in my life.

How dismissive of someone who had a gut feeling something wasn't right. I've heard a lot more 'nonsense' before.

epgc3fyqirnbsx

Our house was broken into and completely cleaned of all the old furniture we had. There's a shotgun and if anyone ever tried to break in while the aul man was here then he'd get all Padraic Nally on their ass

i was nearly arrested for breaking into my own house when I was in college. I had borrowed a mates dvd player and he called to get it back but I wasn't there so he climbed in the sittingroom window and took it back. A neighbour must have seen this and called the cops and in the meantime I came home. I went to bed cos I was dying from the night before and it was a nice day so I had the window left open. I woke up to a pair of cops standing at the foot of my bed tapping me with a maglite. They were convinced the place had been broken into and trashed, and it looked loke it had, it was a f*cking dump.
My first thought was about our 'herb garden' in the wardrobe, I thought we were sprung. It took a lot of explaining and a phonecall to the landlord before they believed me and they then left disgusted that anyone could live in such squalor.
Them was the days

PK2008

Margaret Bewildered Abacus wrote: »

Our house was broken into and completely cleaned of all the old furniture we had. There's a shotgun and if anyone ever tried to break in while the aul man was here then he'd get all Padraic Nally on their ass

i was nearly arrested for breaking into my own house when I was in college. I had borrowed a mates dvd player and he called to get it back but I wasn't there so he climbed in the sittingroom window and took it back. A neighbour must have seen this and called the cops and in the meantime I came home. I went to bed cos I was dying from the night before and it was a nice day so I had the window left open. I woke up to a pair of cops standing at the foot of my bed tapping me with a maglite. They were convinced the place had been broken into and trashed, and it looked loke it had, it was a f*cking dump.
My first thought was about our 'herb garden' in the wardrobe, I thought we were sprung. It took a lot of explaining and a phonecall to the landlord before they believed me and they then left disgusted that anyone could live in such squalor.
Them was the days

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntFrKqeVmt0

Latchy

No although my mother who lives over in Dublin 14 was alone one friday night in october last year and answered a knock on the door . Seeing nobody there she made the mistake of walking to the gate and looking up and down the road not noticing that some scummer who was hiding in the side entry , had sneaked into the hall and out to the kitchen were he gave the place a quick once over . Then as my mother who is in her 70s was walking back into house , he brazenly brushed past her saying '' sorry mam ... wrong house '' before hopping off down the road .

Now it could have being a lot worse , he could have being a nutter with a knife but apart from the shock , what surprised her was this guy was well dressed in a suit and overcoat . So Gardai were notified and it seems a few of these well dressed guys were noticed sizing up houses in the neighbourhood the previous day

A combination of house alarm ,double glazing ,security lights and a good guard dog helps deter but just as importantly residents who can look out and keep an eye on each others property, be it strangers or commercial vans showing up outside the house , does help and make a difference . No place is 100% safe from burglars , specialy the oppurtunists but the harder we make it for them less chance of it happenning .

SoulTrader

WindSock wrote: »

How dismissive of someone who had a gut feeling something wasn't right. I've heard a lot more 'nonsense' before.

Thanks, hey, maybe it was nonsense but I wasn't going to respond to that one myself. Like I admitted, I was way too attached to my belongings then. If it happened now, I'd just cash the insurance cheque and get on with it:)

Biggins

No. No home is ever fully protected from illegal entry but I've done my best to ensure wife, kids, etc is safe.

Hannibal Smith

I shared a house with three others in about 2002 I think it was and we were broken in to. We had a house alarm, but we couldn't activate it when we were in the house because we couldn't turn off the motion sensors.

Anyhow they went through EVERYTHING, took the video player, videos, cd player anything they could get their hands on. They went through coat pockets, all coffee jars, the clothes in the utility room everything to scrape a bit of mangey money together :mad:

I woke up about 6am and went downstairs and I saw the sitting room had been ransacked looked up at the kitchen door, the light was turned off. My feeling was, and still is, that they were in the kitchen and had the light off so I wouldn't see them. We all used to hang our keys by the front door, so I grabbed all the keys ran upstairs, got the other girls and by the time we went back down they were gone.

The only advice I would give anyone is to remove everything from view of the kitchen windows (or any downstairs window to the back of the house) don't leave bank statements or anything like that lying around and take your car keys/mobile anything of value upstairs with you when you're going to bed. They will take anything that's worth a bit of money and will go through everything to find it. Don't hide money in drawers or coffee jars, because that's the first place they'll look.

Sorry for the long post

ChocolateSauce

I used to live in Inchicore and break-ins were a monthly experience. We were vandalised constantly, burgled between 8-20 times a year, and had 9 cars stolen in 8 years. Then I moved to Clondalkin, was only burgled once in 6 years. Haven't been burgled where I am now (Rathmines) or when I lived in Blackrock, although apparently the place I'm in now was robbed about a year ago.

Edit: Oh yeah, our house was petrol bombed twice in Inchicore, and the house was burned out the year after we left (left due to crime). The cops never once did anything. Sometimes we'd call them to say we were in the process of being robbed, with scumbags in our kitchen, and they'd arrive 9 hours later to tell us there was nothing they could do.

Delirium

The family house got broken into when I would have been around 14.

They stole a small lock box that my dad had in his room. I'll never forget him having to tell us that 4 personal letters written to me and my siblings by my mam on her deathbed was in it.

He'd been keeping them and was planning to give them to us on each of our 18th birthdays.

There isn't any painful enough I could wish on those f*cks that stole that box. :mad::mad::mad:

eoinbn

Sorta...

Our old home was 'robbed' one evening. We had moved to the house next door some 10 years earlier so all that was left was some old furniture which they still felt was worth stealing. My father was out for a walk and spotted a lovely traveller standing outside the house but just walked by and pretended as if he didn't suspect anything. A few of us went over, armed with shotguns, to see what they were doing. At this stage they had taken a table and chairs and had a few other things prepped to take so we decided to wait for them. Luckily for them they didn't return- maybe they noticed that everything they took was full of woodworm!

SoulTrader

koth wrote: »

The family house got broken into when I would have been around 14.

They stole a small lock box that my dad had in his room. I'll never forget him having to tell us that 4 personal letters written to me and my siblings by my mam on her deathbed was in it.

He'd been keeping them and was planning to give them to us on each of our 18th birthdays.

There isn't any painful enough I could wish on those f*cks that stole that box. :mad::mad::mad:

That is truly awful. Heartbreaking.

Hannibal Smith

ChocolateSauce wrote: »

I used to live in Inchicore and break-ins were a monthly experience. We were vandalised constantly, burgled between 8-20 times a year, and had 9 cars stolen in 8 years. Then I moved to Clondalkin, was only burgled once in 6 years. Haven't been burgled where I am now (Rathmines) or when I lived in Blackrock, although apparently the place I'm in now was robbed about a year ago.

Edit: Oh yeah, our house was petrol bombed twice in Inchicore, and the house was burned out the year after we left (left due to crime). The cops never once did anything. Sometimes we'd call them to say we were in the process of being robbed, with scumbags in our kitchen, and they'd arrive 9 hours later to tell us there was nothing they could do.

we were living in Kilmainham when we were broken into...gardai knew exactly who it was...nowt was done

seamus

Biggins wrote: »

No. No home is ever fully protected from illegal entry but I've done my best to ensure wife, kids, etc is safe.

You just have to make sure your house is less appealing than your neighbour's

Big houses and places on their own walled plot of land tend to be most at risk - not because those inside are rich, but because there's less chance of being spotted messing around.

Last place I lived in, was in a maze of housing estates. My housemate forgot his keys and his mobile one night and spent 5 hours hanging around outside waiting for me to come home. While he tried to break in, a neighbour called the Gardai who came around and had a chat, but wouldn't give him a hand getting in.

My current house really has only one way in - the front door. All the other windows/entrances are at least 10 feet from the ground with no easy way to climb up or hang on. Never been even the slightest incident with us.

PK2008

koth wrote: »

The family house got broken into when I would have been around 14.

They stole a small lock box that my dad had in his room. I'll never forget him having to tell us that 4 personal letters written to me and my siblings by my mam on her deathbed was in it.

He'd been keeping them and was planning to give them to us on each of our 18th birthdays.

There isn't any painful enough I could wish on those f*cks that stole that box. :mad::mad::mad:

This thread is sapping my faith in humanity

arybvtcw0eolkf

Nope, never.

No idea why, but at a guess its because I'd be very well known about the area - as would be my dogs, a Pitbull and a Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

My Staff is a softie, but Richo the 'Pit would go through concrate walls to get at an intruder.

eoinbn

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

we were living in Kilmainham when we were broken into...gardai knew exactly who it was...nowt was done

There most be some rule that if a cop arrests someone for robbery then that cop gets robbed!

A friends diesel tank has been robbed a few times, as has a lot people near his home. One day he returns home to find them loading up their van with 5 gallon drums from his tank. He rings our useless men in blue, locks them into the yard and waits for the cops to arrive. The guys see him locking the gate and just continue to fill away!! Cops turn up, take the two travellers names lets them off WITH the diesel!! €500 down the drain!

Darksaga87

Hogzy wrote: »

Never (Touch wood!!!touches penis)

1. I live at the end of a cul de sac so that in itself is a deterrent.
2. I have a dog that looks like a Wolf crossed with a polar bear (Samoyed)
3. We have 3 security lights around our house
4.Light is always left on at night time.
5. House is always occupied during the day bar for maybe an hour or two.
Think this is probably the reason we have never had an intruder so far!

What Hours would they be?

ChocolateSauce

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

we were living in Kilmainham when we were broken into...gardai knew exactly who it was...nowt was done

Oh yeah, they knew who it was. Actually come to think of it, two of the likeliest perps recently went to jail for murdering a man in front of his two children.

Koth wrote:

The family house got broken into when I would have been around 14.

They stole a small lock box that my dad had in his room. I'll never forget him having to tell us that 4 personal letters written to me and my siblings by my mam on her deathbed was in it.

He'd been keeping them and was planning to give them to us on each of our 18th birthdays.

There isn't any painful enough I could wish on those f*cks that stole that box.

My deepest condolences. Although nothing of that value was taken from me, a number of extremely important objects given to me by dead relatives have been stolen, so I understand somewhat.

Skinfull

yep. one sunday night the house in college was broken into. We had **** all to steal so they trashed the place. Got away with a jar of pennies, a gameboy pocket and a jacket. *****.

KevArno

My family home used to get a lot of attention from thieves of all descriptions. My mum arrived home one day to catch two guys working on the lock on the shed at the back of the house with a jimmy bar, they scarpered pretty quickly luckily enough.
We also got people stealing our heating oil constantly. The baxtards even injured the family dog, kicked him in the face leaving him blind while they were at it

The most recent one was in a house share in Dublin about 2 years ago, where me and the lads I lived with were away for a night. When we came back to the house we found the locks on two of the front windows broken in, and mucky footseps throught the house, but nothing was taken. Nothing seemed to be touched at all.