Irish priest survives vicious gun attack

A brave Irish missionary has vowed to return to ministry after sustaining severe life-threatening injuries by an armed gang in Peru.

Columban missionary Fr Gerard Desmond (73) was rushed to hospital after receiving a blow to his head and two gunshots wounds above both his knees as he arrived at his residence in the Parish of Christ the Liberator, in the slum district of San Juan de Lurigancho, outside of Lima, Peru on April 28.

It’s believed that the armed gang followed the Irish missionary after learning he was in possession of a large sum of money to pay bills and salaries in the parish before the end of the month.

Describing the circumstances, spokesperson for the Columbans, Fr Cyril Lovett SSC told The Irish Catholic: “He withdrew approximately $2,000, which would have been more than usual – normally he is quite careful – but he drove back to his parish and as he got out of the car and opened the gate at about 10.30am, three men got out of a car which had stopped behind him – they’d obviously followed him – and approached, two with guns drawn and demanding the money.

Escape

“Fr Gerry refused to hand it over, so they hit him over the head, shot him in both legs and escaped with the money. Luckily a person working on a building site nearby saw what had happened, rushed to him, bandaged his wounds and got him a taxi to the nearest hospital,” Fr Lovett explained.

The Dublin-born priest received nine stitches in the side of his head and more on the leg wounds.

As the bullets missed bones and arteries, he has now been released from hospital.

Fr Lovett said that missionaries often face risks like this, and that although an armed robbery would not be an exceptional circumstance in Lima, it was unusual that it was a missionary who was attacked. He added that Fr Gerard will “absolutely” return to ministry and that there “is no question about it”.

Fr Gerard was ordained a priest in 1969 and assigned to Korea, to the Chunchon District, where he served from 1974-1979.

He worked in Canada from 1979-1987 and has served in various parishes in Peru since then.