Post by Harry on Mar 26, 2008 16:35:58 GMT
WASP do you know where abouts this is?? I canny think of it??
Victim tells of gang attack outside home
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View GalleryBy Gemma Murray
A man told yesterday how he and a friend were assaulted by a gang in an unprovoked attack in Ballymena.
The incident happened in Sentry Hollow at about 11.20pm last Saturday.
The victims suffered cuts and bruises to their faces and bodies after they went outside to investigate the sound of glass being smashed.
Police are investigating whether a sectarian motive was behind the attack as one of those involved in the assault shouted "Up the Ra", a reference to the IRA.
John Tweed, 20, from Portglenone, said he and a group of friends were in an apartment playing computer games when they heard the living-room
window "shudder".
"I looked out the window and there was this fella standing there saying 'what what'," Mr Tweed said.
"My friend Tristan and I looked out the door and a wine bottle had been smashed beside the window. As soon as we opened the door we were attacked.
"The next minute two fellas jumped Tristan and kept kicking him and punching him. He has a black eye, a bloody lip and a bruise on the side of his head.
"When I walked out I got hit on the side of my head with an object. I don't know what it was hit me, but I still have a bump on the side of my head and I feel dizzy.
"There have been people talking to me today at work in O'Kane's in Ballymena and I am not hearing what they are saying."
Mr Tweed said the incident had taken him by "surprise".
"It wasn't as if we were provoking the situation. We went out to see what was going on and the next thing they were battering the head off you," he said.
"The fellas who attacked us did seem drunk and had thrown a wine bottle at the window and had beer bottles in their hands."
Lorraine Crawford, 20, who lives in the Sentry Hollow apartment with her two children – 15-month-old Kara and two-year-old Ryan – said she was anxious to move out after the attack.
"I had planned to move before the attack and I am moving now later this week. The attack makes it much easier," she said.
"I had all my friends up on Saturday night. We were playing computer games. Tristan and I were in the bedroom looking at Kara as she has had the cold and couldn't sleep when we heard a noise like a bottle smashing."
She said the two men were set upon the moment they stepped outside the door.
"There must have been about eight of them. I don't know," she said.
"I ran out and started pushing them away. I did not want to hit them in case they hit me. I kept saying the police are coming and that I had babies in bed. But they did not care.
"The fellas were between 20 and 25. They shouted 'Up the RA' as well.
We think they must have been coming from the pub."
DUP councillor Deirdre Nelson condemned those responsible.
"Any sort of violence is not acceptable. Everyone has a right to live their lives in peace and I don't think this is acceptable," she said.
SDLP MLA Declan O'Loan condemned the "disgraceful incident".
"A householder must have the right to go outside to investigate a disturbance without being assaulted. I very much support the police request for witnesses or any other information," he said.
The full article contains 585 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
Victim tells of gang attack outside home
« Previous « PreviousNext » Next »
View GalleryBy Gemma Murray
A man told yesterday how he and a friend were assaulted by a gang in an unprovoked attack in Ballymena.
The incident happened in Sentry Hollow at about 11.20pm last Saturday.
The victims suffered cuts and bruises to their faces and bodies after they went outside to investigate the sound of glass being smashed.
Police are investigating whether a sectarian motive was behind the attack as one of those involved in the assault shouted "Up the Ra", a reference to the IRA.
John Tweed, 20, from Portglenone, said he and a group of friends were in an apartment playing computer games when they heard the living-room
window "shudder".
"I looked out the window and there was this fella standing there saying 'what what'," Mr Tweed said.
"My friend Tristan and I looked out the door and a wine bottle had been smashed beside the window. As soon as we opened the door we were attacked.
"The next minute two fellas jumped Tristan and kept kicking him and punching him. He has a black eye, a bloody lip and a bruise on the side of his head.
"When I walked out I got hit on the side of my head with an object. I don't know what it was hit me, but I still have a bump on the side of my head and I feel dizzy.
"There have been people talking to me today at work in O'Kane's in Ballymena and I am not hearing what they are saying."
Mr Tweed said the incident had taken him by "surprise".
"It wasn't as if we were provoking the situation. We went out to see what was going on and the next thing they were battering the head off you," he said.
"The fellas who attacked us did seem drunk and had thrown a wine bottle at the window and had beer bottles in their hands."
Lorraine Crawford, 20, who lives in the Sentry Hollow apartment with her two children – 15-month-old Kara and two-year-old Ryan – said she was anxious to move out after the attack.
"I had planned to move before the attack and I am moving now later this week. The attack makes it much easier," she said.
"I had all my friends up on Saturday night. We were playing computer games. Tristan and I were in the bedroom looking at Kara as she has had the cold and couldn't sleep when we heard a noise like a bottle smashing."
She said the two men were set upon the moment they stepped outside the door.
"There must have been about eight of them. I don't know," she said.
"I ran out and started pushing them away. I did not want to hit them in case they hit me. I kept saying the police are coming and that I had babies in bed. But they did not care.
"The fellas were between 20 and 25. They shouted 'Up the RA' as well.
We think they must have been coming from the pub."
DUP councillor Deirdre Nelson condemned those responsible.
"Any sort of violence is not acceptable. Everyone has a right to live their lives in peace and I don't think this is acceptable," she said.
SDLP MLA Declan O'Loan condemned the "disgraceful incident".
"A householder must have the right to go outside to investigate a disturbance without being assaulted. I very much support the police request for witnesses or any other information," he said.
The full article contains 585 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
I do see though a shocking lack of respect or standards in the youth here- every generation growing older starts to turn into old fogeys a bit and we were no little angels in my youth but it does feel different. Whereas we might have half inched a couple of bars of chocolate had the shopkeeper caught us we'd have feel ashamed - the kids nowadays often just walk in mobhanded to the local shopkeepers and take what they want knowing he won't challenge 10 or 15 of them. At the weekend we had the manager of a large clothing store stabbed to death after his store was invaded by a local gang of kids watching to see what he did each evening with the money from the days takings. I sometimes think we're kind of drifting to a point here where the kids are functionally emotionally illiterate.
