Businessman Lee Tierney, whose baby daughter had a shotgun shoved in her face during a raid by armed robbers at his home

A GUN was put to the head of a 10-month-old baby during a shocking armed burglary.

Little Emily Tierney and her parents, Lee and Sarah, were terrorised by the armed gang who broke into their home in the early hours of yesterday. Gardai are hunting four masked raiders who shoved a shotgun in the faces of the baby and her mother during the horrific ordeal at their home in Balrothery, north Co Dublin.

The thieves, who later made off with a significant sum of money, also pointed a gun at businessman Mr Tierney's head and threatened to kill him if he did not give them more cash. He was also beaten about the body. One of the raiders told him: "I'm giving you 10 seconds before I blow your head off in front of your wife and your baby."

A traumatised Mr Tierney, who owns a kitchens business, said: "They threatened to shoot me, stab me, they put me on my knees, tied me with my hands behind my back.

"All the time they were pointing a gun at my wife's face, she was holding the baby, then they told me they were going to shoot her and the baby," he said.

The two adults were also tied up after the gang – armed with handguns, a

shotgun and an iron bar – broke into and ransacked their home at around 3am yesterday. Little Emily was unharmed during the ordeal, which lasted 30 minutes.

The raiders stole a "significant" sum of cash and also took Mr Tierney's black BMW, which was found burnt out nearby.

"They have to be a special kind of animal to point a shotgun at a 10-month-old baby's face, I hope they get what they deserve," said Mr Tierney, who owns Tierney Kitchens in Balbriggan.

"I heard the dogs barking in the middle of the night and got up to check. I looked out the back window and saw a couple of lads there and shouted at them.

"I heard a bang at the front door and then they came up the stairs. I shut the bedroom door and wedged myself between it and our bed. We had our 10-month-old baby in the bed with us.

"I tried to stop them coming in but I couldn't. I got down on the floor and tried to block them with my feet, but there were four of them, so they came in on top of me.

"They all had guns. One had a sawn-off shotgun and the other three had handguns.

"They demanded money and then one of them hit me with an iron bar across the head. That split my head open and there was blood everywhere. The whole place was covered in blood. They used the shotgun to hit me as well.

"We said we had a baby but they didn't care. They dragged us all downstairs and tied me up."

Mr Tierney said he usually lodged the takings from the business in the bank every day but a long meeting meant he could not make it.

"I usually don't keep any money in the house, but I missed the bank so there was some here which they took. But they wanted more," he said.

Despite securing a substantial amount of cash, the raiders were not satisfied.

COMMOTION

"They were demanding to know where the safe was. I told them we don't have one," he said.

"They threatened to shoot my wife and child. My wife offered them her rings but they said they didn't want them.

"On several occasions they held the shotgun up to my daughter and threatened to shoot her. That's quite disturbing.

"They told me to get down on my hands and knees and that they were going to blow my head off. One of them counted to three and then pulled me into the hallway and started beating me again."

The family's ordeal ended when a neighbour came to the door after hearing the commotion.

"They took the keys of my car and were going to put me in the boot. That was when my neighbours heard the commotion and basically saved my life," said Mr Tierney.

"They locked us in the toilet and then they took off in my car. I charged the door down and went into my neighbours. The guards were already on the way."

Mr Tierney was left bleeding badly and required treatment in hospital for his injuries.

Irish Independent