Ask almost anyone in Fingal and they'll tell you: Keith Hefford loves his gardening.
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When the 77-year-old is not pottering about in his own garden on Talbot Street, he's off helping others with theirs. It's a passion that's spanned 75 years since he started his first flower garden as a two-year-old.
Yet it is becoming increasingly difficult for him to spend as much time outdoors as he would like, due to fatigue, headaches, eye sight issues and stomach pain that he developed after being the victim of a violent home invasion in March.
Mr Hefford was attacked with a baseball bat and hammer, resulting in damage to his skull and requiring seven stitches.
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"This head injury, it plays up all the time, especially with my eyes. I find I can't think straight sometimes and my memory has gotten a lot worse," he said.
"I was going to be in the garden this morning, actually, but I'm not well enough today. It's what I really enjoy though, gardening for people around the place."
Having lived in Fingal for over 30 years, it was the last thing Mr Hefford expected to experience.
His second-hand business Aladdin's Cave a few doors up from his house is a collection of items spanning generations - items that he's happy to take off the hands of people coming and going from Fingal. It's more of a museum of objects than an actual moneymaking venture, and Mr Hefford sees it as a public service to help those who are shedding items when moving house.
He believes this business is what made him a target in the end, with the offenders forming the mistaken belief that he must have cash or valuables around somewhere.
Mr Hefford was asleep just after midnight on March 27 when three masked women stormed up his hallway and confronted him, demanding money.
He still remembers it well.
"I could hear them coming up the passageway. I didn't have time to sit up in bed when they popped around the corner, the lights came on, they had masks, a weapon, I was bashed and they tried to tie me up," he said.
"It didn't work, I just kept bashing them back and fighting. That's when I was hit over the head, damaging my skull and my nose and knocking some teeth out."
The struggle continued until the women fled the scene with nothing but Mr Hefford's mobile phone, some beers and landline that they ripped out of the wall.
Others might not have been so lucky.
"I stuck up to them," Mr Hefford said.
"I thought that if they could get away with bashing and robbing me, they'll be back again having a go at other pensioners.
"It really created a lot of fear out there when people heard about it.
"If they come for me again, I'll get them."
The last of the three women involved in the home invasion was jailed this week.
Tara Jayne Lewis, 29, was jailed for three years, Rose-Lee Clarke, who wielded the bat and led the break-in, was also jailed for three years and Shelly May Freeman was jailed for three-and-a-half years.
Mr Hefford had known Freeman since her childhood, when he would let her take lollies when she had no money.
While the crime has taken a physical and mental toll on Mr Hefford, he hoped that his actions have made Fingal a safer place for all.
"It's a horrible thing to have happen to anybody. Nothing like this has really gone on in Fingal before," he said.
"I remember when I was brought up in the 40s, we were brought up strong. I was always taught to look after people, not to hurt them.
"These women never got away with this though. Hopefully no one else will have to go through this either."