A NEWLY ENGAGED Irish couple has described how they were forced into a car at gunpoint and robbed while on holiday in the Algarve, Portugal.   

Dermot told RTÉ’s Liveline that he and his fiancée had booked a holiday to Albufeira to celebrate their recent engagement but ended up having a holiday from hell. 

Speaking from Faro Airport, the Donegal man explained that on Sunday night the couple was walking up the strip in Albufeira when they were forced into a car by gunpoint. 

“We saw them at a bakery. They came out of it while we were passing. They pulled a gun on me and my partner” he said.

They forced us into the car and took us up a back road an hour away from the strip. They were going to shoot me and sell my fiancée for money as a sex slave. 

According to Dermot, one of the gang members took out a gun to shoot him in the head but the driver of the car punched the gunman to stop him. 

The couple says they were in the car for about an hour before they taken to an ATM. 

Dermot explained that he gave his fiancée the wrong bank card so that she would not be able to access the money, and “out of the blue” they let Dermot out of the car to help her. 

“Me and my partner then decided to run off and we went to the nearest bar. So, we did get away but we’re very lucky to be alive.

“They were going to shoot us dead, basically for money. Altogether they must have gotten €300 and another €200 out of the bank. 

It’s just been a traumatic experience, my partner’s first holiday. 

“We haven’t had a holiday at all. We’ve spent the last five days in police stations and hospitals,” he said.  

‘Something out of a horror movie’

According to RTÉ, the Portuguese police said they are taking the incident very seriously and that they have two teams working on the investigation. 

The couple both made full statements to Portuguese police and according to Dermot, the kidnappers are currently under surveillance by at least ten policemen. 

Dermot feels the gang had followed them and passed them at least ten times in their car on the previous day.

In an unlucky turn of events, the couple were victims of theft again. When they woke up this morning Dermot realised his phone was missing, along with three bank cards. 

It’s like something out of a horror movie.

Dermot expressed his frustration at their travel insurance company AIG as he feels they failed to help him and his fiancée in their situation.

AIG issued the following statement to Liveline in response to Dermot’s complaint:

AIG sympathises with the situation this couple found themselves in and has been in touch to offer its support. Travel insurance policies only cover certain specified scenarios and if a specific scenario is not covered the policy will not apply.