Catherine Delaney002.jpg A MUM of nine who survived being shot 12 times on her doorstep, has named the man she believes was behind the attack in a letter to the new Garda Commissioner pleading for the case to be re-opened.
Catherine Delaney McCormack broke a six-year silence earlier this month when she told the Sunday World of her ordeal when she was shot 12 times at her home in Clondalkin.
She revealed the full horrors of the night she opened the door and was greeted by a masked gunman who pumped bullets into her body as she tried to crawl away.
Catherine has informed the Commissioner of who she believes hired a hitman to try to kill her and asked her to appoint new investigators to her case, as the original team under Superintendent John Quirke have failed to make progress.
The award-winning care worker was shot on June 13, 2008, and to date, she says there have been no arrests made in the case and she has not been kept informed of any developments.
“At the time I was told by gardai that the gunman was a hired hitman, which I have long believed was employed by *******,” she told Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan.
“It is six years since that dreadful night and I cannot even describe what I have gone through both physically and mentally.
“I continue to live in fear for my life and in particular as the gardaí allocated to investigate my case do not seem to have made any progress” she wrote.
“I would like to request that my case be re-investigated and some priority put to solving it. I have had very unsatisfactory communication with gardaí throughout this time and feel that I, as a victim of crime, have been all but ignored.
“If I was killed on that night would my case remain unsolved? It is almost as if I am being punished for having survived such a dreadful attack.”
Catherine also detailed in her appeal to the Garda boss that she has moved home eight times since the shooting and lives in fear for her life.
“I feel as if I have been completely let down by the Garda Siochana,” she wrote.
“As a woman I’m sure you can understand how terrified I remain and I am hoping that you can help me.”
Opposition justice spokesman Niall Collins is hoping to meet with Ms Delaney McCormack in the coming weeks to discuss her case.
Catherine is a walking miracle after medics removed all the bullets from her stomach, legs and back after she was shot at point-blank range while her children looked on.
Previously, an unidentified gunman fired four shots through the hall door of her home and months later her car was set alight outside the house. Both incidents were reported to gardai.
Now Catherine is taking her case to Dáil Deputies and all the way to the Garda Commissioner in order to have the investigation relaunched.
“I am a victim of crime, not a criminal. I adhere to the law and now it is time for me to see some justice,” she said.
