A MAN HAS been arrested after an American tourist in her 80s was mugged and assaulted in Killarney, Co Kerry last month. 

Shortly after 8.30pm on 22 April, the woman, named Andrea, was approached by a lone male and robbed of her handbag on Port Road. 

She required medical treatment following the incident. 

A Garda search operation was carried out this morning in Killarney and a man aged in his 20s was arrested in relation to the robbery and assault. 

He is currently detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 at a garda station in the Kerry division. 

Following the incident, Andrea wrote a letter to the people of Killarney, thanking them for their help and appealing for information.

She said she and her husband were in Kerry to find the towns her ancestors had emigrated from in the 1880s and to celebrate their 54th wedding anniversary.

She said the couple had “a wonderful anniversary dinner” in Killarney and were walking on Port Road back to the cottage where they were staying when she was mugged. 

“It happened in the blink of an eye,” she wrote in correspondence to local councillor Marie Moloney, who had been liaising with her.

“The thief threw me down on the pavement and in the process of stealing my purse caused a head injury and broke my right arm,” she said. 

“It is a very serious and painful injury and will take months to heal,” she continued.

“The reason I am writing this letter is to acknowledge the wonderful support we received from the Killarney community,” Andrea said. 

With reporting by Anne Lucey