A 94-year-old Roscommon woman and her two sons were terrorised by a six-man gang during a home invasion burglary in the early hours of yesterday.
One of the sons, a man in his mid-60s, was assaulted by the gang, some of whom were armed with screwdrivers and other weapons.
The aggravated burglary happened at around 1am yesterday when the masked gang broke into the house in Ballintubber, Co Roscommon.
Gardaí from Castlerea, Co Roscommon, are investigating the crime but there have been no arrests made so far.
Senior sources told the Irish Independent the elderly lady and her sons were kept hostage in one room of the house while the building was ransacked.
They were repeatedly threatened by gang members during the course of the terrifying incident.
It is understood that the violent thieves escaped with a small amount of cash as well as jewellery and some other items.
Gardaí are investigating if they were targeted by an organised burglary gang because the family own a local convenience store which adjoins where they live.
If this was the reasoning behind the burglary, the criminals may have been operating under the assumption that they had access to a large amount of cash.