A LOCAL woman couldn’t believe it when she had her phone snatched last week in the peaceful surroundings of Botanic Gardens.
It wasn’t just that it’s an unlikely venue for a classic snatch-and-grab; what really astounded her was the thief was a common seagull.
Vanessa Keegan, from Clonsilla, was visiting the scenic gardens with daughter Catherine and grandchildren Kai and Jordan. The family had sat down on the grass beside a pond and Vanessa put down her phone and began to take some snaps with her tablet device.
She noticed a seagull nearby and took a few pictures and a video before turning back to the grandchildren. Suddenly she was startled by Catherine yelling
“Mammy, he’s got your phone
?.
“I said who’s got my phone,
? Vanessa told Northside People.
“The seagull, she said.
?
Sure enough, Vanessa turned around to see the seagull taking flight with her precious phone in his beak. Two shocked Botanic Gardens staff witnessed the cheeky crime and joined the astonished gran in a futile chase.
“Myself and the two men ran after the seagull but he just flew a couple of feet away, veered over the pond and dropped my phone in the middle of the pond,
? Vanessa said.
“The workmen said they’d never seen anything like it in their lives. They went back up to their workplace and got waders and pitchforks and went into the water to try and get the phone.
“They tried for ages to get it back but unfortunately they couldn’t find it.
?
After getting over the shock of having her phone stolen by a bird, Vanessa saw the funny side of the incredible incident.
“Everybody is breaking their heart laughing at it but I’m not, I’m doing an awful lot of running around trying to sort my phone out,
? she laughed.
“Seriously though, I think it’s the funniest thing I’ve ever, ever seen.
?
Vanessa’s ordeal wasn’t quite over. She sensibly had the phone insured but realised she had to fill out a claim form and report the incident to the gardaÃ.
“I had to sit down and write how my phone was stolen and as I was writing it at the kitchen table I thought
‘nobody’s going to believe this’. I was laughing while I was writing.
?
Vanessa brought the form to get it stamped at Blanchardstown Garda Station, along with the photo of the seagull she’d taken moments before he snatched the phone.
“There was a lot of people there so I tried to be as discrete as possible,
? Vanessa said.
“I just asked the guard could he stamp the back of the form. He turned it over and began to read and I knew straight away when he got to the seagull part because he started sniggering.
“He just folded it over and said:
‘I’ll be back in a minute’, and he went into the back and I could hear the guards breaking their hearts laughing. He came back and says
‘so a seagull took your phone and flew away with it?’
“I actually had a mugshot. I told them:
‘that’s the seagull who took my phone’.
?
Vanessa is now trying to contact pals on Facebook to ask for their numbers as she has lost all her contacts. If you’re a friend of the unlucky gran get in touch, and tell her a little birdie told you to give her a bell!