Cork burglars rob workman of all his tools and chase two women with hammer

A devastating blow to a hard-working man – €5k worth of carpentry tools taken from van

The women beeping their horn as they spot the robbery

Two good samaritans stepped in when they witnessed a robbery in the early hours of Friday morning – only to be chased by the thieves wielding a hammer.

At around 12:30am on Friday, two women were driving along Fairfield Avenue on the northside of Cork city when they spotted two men breaking into a parked van. The women intervened in the theft by beeping the horn – and the thieves responded by chasing the women with a hammer.

The burglars then ran off, getting away with €5,000 worth of stolen tools belonging to hard-working local carpenter Dave, whose depends on them as he does his six-day working week. The busy carpenter now faces a significant cost in replacing his lost tools and he could miss out on work while he gets his kit back together.

Dave’s partner Andrea told CorkBeo that the two brave women – even after being threatened with a hammer – quickly returned and knocked on the door to let them know about the robbery.

Andrea said: “Dave has been a carpenter over 20 years. He accepts now that his tools are most likely gone but he wants to raise awareness that this should be treated as commercial aggravated burglary. His van is his business premises and they used violence and weapons to chase those girls away.”

It’s likely that the thieves will now try to sell the tools – so Dave and Andrea want people to be on the lookout for any suspicious hauls of carpentry tools up for sale in the coming days. The items – which are marked with the initials ‘DA’ or have been sprayed with high-vis paint – include:

Paslode Framing GunPaslode angled Brad NailerDewalt SDS Hammer DrillDewalt Combi DrillDewalt Impact DriverDewalt Cordless Orbital SanderDewalt Cordless RouterDewalt Belt SanderDewalt Multi Tool Dewalt Reciprocating SawDewalt JigsawDewalt Rear Handle Circular SawDewalt Cordless Angle Grinder About 15 Dewalt batteriesSeveral hand tools

Andrea added: “My neighbour’s daughter’s car was broken into the night before, and there was an attempt on her partner’s van the night after, so these guys don’t even care about targeting the same places. It’s disgraceful really.”

As for the two women who raised the alarm, Andrea said “they were very brave for trying to stop them.” She added: “I have spoken to them since and they don’t want their names out there – but we will do something nice for them ourselves.”

A Garda spokesperson told CorkBeo: “Gardaí attended the scene following report of a theft from a vehicle at a location in Farranree, Cork city, on Friday, June 26 2026 that occurred at approximately 00:30am.

“A quantity of tools were reported as taken. Investigations ongoing.”

There were reports of prowlers in several areas around the northside last night, with thieves captured on doorbell cams and CCTV checking cars and looking into houses in Mayfield, as well as Churchfield and in Blackpool.

The advice – as always – is to make sure everything is locked up and out of sight as much as possible and any suspicious activity should be reported immediately to the Gardaí.

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