Catholic man survives sectarian hatchet attack

A Catholic man was left for dead after being struck on the
head with a hatchet by a gang of Shankill Road loyalists, as
he walked home along Carrick Hill in the early hours of Sunday
morning.

The latest sectarian attack has led to calls for action, after
a spate of sectarian attacks in the area, which is close to
the loyalist Shankill Road.

Katrina McMoran, who lives in a flat on Carrick Hill in North
Belfast, said she heard a woman scream and when she went to
investigate she saw a number of loyalists attacking a man who
was with the woman.

"I didn't see the other man lying unconscious on the ground
bleeding from a gap on his forehead where the hatchet had
struck him. It looked like the woman's husband had been
attacked coming to help him. They left the young man for
dead".

McMoran told how she saw a group of about five loyalists
walking calmly onto the Shankill Road after the attack.

A number of loyalists nearby were seen talking on mobile
phones before a black car, which had been driving about the
area, returned to the scene.

"It looked like they were phoning for these cars to come and
pick them up after this attack".

The young woman said her mother and sister went to the young
man's aid and brought him into their flat before phoning for
an ambulance.

"He had a large open wound on his head from the crown to the
forehead. It was sticking up and was open. I told him he had a
broken arm because it was round his back and he couldn't move
it".

Residents of Carrick Hill said the situation for Catholics had
worsened on the notorious stretch of road from Clifton Street,
past the Shankill and on to the Falls Road.

The victim of the attempted murder bid lived in the Gransha
area of West Belfast.

Hours after the attempted murder bid, a group of men were
chased by the loyalist attackers in the same vicinity. However
the loyalists abandoned their chase when they found that the
men they were after were themselves Protestants.