A DEVASTATED woman is pleading for the return of her dog and “best friend” who was snatched from her partner during a violent assault in the capital.
Heartbroken Cathy Ward, 35, says it would mean “everything” to be reunited with Skye, a nine-year-old Siberian husky, who was taken on Tuesday afternoon.
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She told The Irish Sun: “She’s my best friend — I did everything with her.”
Skye was being walked by Cathy’s partner Louis Fearon on Tuesday while on his work break.
When he stopped at the lights on the corner of Marlborough Street and Cathal Brugha Street, in Dublin’s north inner city, between noon and 12.15pm, a man with an American accent approached him.
Dressed as a food delivery driver, the man — described as 6ft 2in tall and dark-skinned — claimed to have ownership papers of the dog and demanded for Skye to be handed over.
Louis was then pinned to the ground, punched and violently assaulted.
At the same time, a second man appeared, who was about 5ft 10in with brown hair, of slight build and wearing a white hoodie jumper and backpack.
He grabbed Skye and jumped into a taxi which was exiting Champions Avenue onto Cathal Brugha Street.
Louis then pursued the taxi on foot towards Gardiner Street.
It was at this point the man in the white hoodie hopped out of the taxi and disappeared, running in the direction of Mountjoy Square.
Cathy, who is from Cavan but works in Dublin, then got a call from Louis before she joined him.
She explained: “Louis rang 999 and rang me at work. We were waiting for 30 minutes, no guards. So we rang again and said, ‘Are you going to come out?’
“And they told us, ‘Oh, just wait’. And we were still waiting. Then we rang again and they said, ‘Oh, you just go, we’re too busy’.
“We just walked to a Garda station on Store Street to report it.”
Cathy told how it had been a “very hard” 24 hours and added: “I haven’t slept.”
Traumatising event
Louis went to A&E with pains in his neck from the assault and has been left traumatised.
Cathy said: “He’s shook. He’s understandably shook, and he feels guilty about it.”
The Navan native adopted Skye from Husky Rescue Ireland in 2017 and, through tears, she added: “It would mean everything to get her back.”
Anyone with information on Skye’s whereabouts is asked to contact Store Street Garda Station on 01 666 8000.
