Disabled pensioner robbed in home

Sally Doherty is paralysed down one side of her body

An elderly woman who uses a wheelchair has been left traumatised after being robbed in her west Belfast home.

The two robbers kicked open the door of Sally Doherty's house in the Glencolin area at about 0445 BST on Sunday.

The men demanded cash before making off with her handbag which contained cash, a bank card and bank books.

The 75-year-old said it was the third time that she had been targeted by robbers. "It's happening too often, but what can you do?," she said.

"We are absolutely wide open for anyone to come in - it's terrible that they can come into your own home.

"You would think that you're safe in your own home but you're not."

Mrs Doherty is paralysed down one side of her body.

Sinn Fein's Michael Ferguson condemned the incident and called on local people to set up a neighbourhood watch programme.

"It's a shameful business - they broke into her home, pulled the phone out of the wall, took her pension card and pin number," the West Belfast assembly member said.

Sally Doherty said this was the third time she had been robbed

"Post office counters have already been informed of course, so they'll be getting no money off that.

"Nevertheless, she could very easily have died with the shock."

It was the latest is a spate of robberies at pensioners' homes over the weekend across Northern Ireland.

However, Sergeant Norman Gibson said he did not think these burglaries were an indication of a dramatic rise in such crime.

SDLP assembly member Carmel Hanna urged severe punishment for intruders who break into the homes of elderly people.

Ms Hanna said it was important to bring those responsible to court "and hope that it's a deterrent to others".

Intruders entered a 100-year-old woman's home on Donegall Road

"There seems to be such a breakdown in law and order and such a lack of respect, particularly for the older people in our society who should be respected and honoured," she added.

In the Donegall Road area of Ms Hanna's south Belfast constituency, three men kicked in the door of a house belonging to a 100-year-old woman at about 0200 on Saturday.

Around the same time in Ballymena, an elderly couple were robbed at their home in the Wilson Crescent area.

The husband and wife, both aged 70, were sleeping when a masked man woke up the woman.

He put his hand over her mouth and pulled the duvet over her head before demanding cash.

In Banbridge, four masked men held an 80-year-old man down in his home at Huntley Road early on Saturday and demanded cash.

In Lisburn, an 75-year-old woman was robbed in her home after two youths wearing masks broke into her home at Warren Gardens at about 2200 BST on Friday.

She was held down while her home was ransacked.

Meanwhile in Newtownabbey, four intruders held down a 79-year-old man and ransacked his bedroom in the Glebecoole area at about 0330 BST on Saturday.