Overview

• Armed intruders stormed the Sainte-Hélène orphanage in Kenscoff on August 3, abducting nine people including a three-year-old child and Irish missionary Gena Heraty from the Nos Petits Frères et Sœurs facility.
• Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs is providing consular assistance and has been in direct contact with hostages’ families and Haitian authorities.
• Haitian officials evacuated dozens of remaining children and staff from the orphanage to safer locations following the attack.
• No group has claimed responsibility for the raid in territory controlled by the Viv Ansanm gang federation, which the U.S. designated as a foreign terrorist organization earlier this year.
• The abduction underscores a wider escalation in gang-led kidnappings in Haiti, where the UN reports over 3,140 people were killed in the first half of 2025.