A SHANNON resident who was stoned by teenagers on a visit Mount St Lawrence Cemetery, has warned others to be on full alert. Joe Manifold was visiting with a friend at the weekend when three teenagers attacked them, pelting them with stones. “I started to run after them, but my friend was worried because his car was parked at the gates and he was afraid they would damage it, so we left. Afterwards, I thought it was just as well that I didn’t catch them because who knows what would have happened,” he told the Limerick Post.
Mr Manifold suffers from a medical condition which means he has to have someone drive him.
“My friend said it is the last time he will be taking me there. You would be very nervous now – they were aged about 17. I’m not a small man – I’m over six feet tall and there were two of us. What would they do to a woman on their own?”
Mr Manifold phoned the gardai, “but of course, the youngsters were long gone. I want to warn people to be careful when they go there. This happened at 7pm”.
Flann Haskett, Cemeteries Superintendent with Limerick City Council, said that he does not doubt that the two gentlemen were subjected to a frightening incident, “but we have never heard of anything like that before. Normally, people can come here at any hour and there would be no trouble”.
He told the Limerick Post that there is no security on the graveyard, “and there has never been a need for it,” but he did point out that if the incident had happened on a weekday, there would have been staff around.
