Young Catholic mother warned of sectarian attack

A 20-year-old Catholic mother has been warned by the PSNI that
unionist paramilitaries have plans to burn her out of her
Tandragee Road home in Portadown.

The young women, who is too terrified to be identified, and her
18-month-old son are now living with relatives after the PSNI
warned her on Friday 9 May of an imminent attack on her home.

A confidential letter delivered to the woman by members of the
PSNI said they were in receipt of information that suggested she
was going to be "burnt out" because she is a Catholic.

A sister of woman said she fears for her life after the threat:
"She is afraid to move and live somewhere else in case these
people find her. She is in a state of shock at these sectarian
threats against her and her young son."

Sinn Fein's Dara O'Hagan said this latest sectarian threat was a
worrying development, "particularly in the Portadown area, which
is already blighted by sectarian attacks directed against
nationalists.

"This is a terrifying experience for anybody to have to go
through, especially given the current political climate and the
fact we are into the run up to the marching season in Portadown
and the Six Counties and all the tensions associated with it."


'ATTACKED BECAUSE WE ARE CATHOLICS'

A Catholic couple say an attack on their home in the
predominantly unionist village of Drumahoe near Derry City was
sectarian.

The couple and their ten-day-old baby were asleep in the Old
School Field estate when their home was attacked by loyalists
with paint bombs and stones at around 2.10 am on Tuesday 13 May.

A downstairs window was broken during the attack.

The woman said her partner was seen wearing a Republic of Ireland
football top, which she thinks prompted the sectarian attack on
their home.

The woman described the attackers as cowards and she will not be
intimidated out of her home.