Family recounts night of masked loyalist terror

A Catholic family of four have told how they were forced to
flee their home on the Parkhill estate in Antrim after an
attack by a gang of masked unionist paramilitaries on Sunday
night 5 October.

Siobhan Robb, her partner and their two young children had
been inundated with bogus fast food deliveries and taxis all
evening before the situation became more serious with the
appearance of masked loyalists outside the house at Donegore
Drive.

Shortly after midnight three masked men approached the house
with iron bars and baseball bats and began smashing the
downstairs windows before turning their attention to the front
door, smashing it to try to gain entry,

Robb told how she looked out of the window and saw a man
wearing a balaclava while another man approached the house and
shouted "You Fenian Bastard" and began smashing up the house
and the car.

"We ran into the back hall and barricaded ourselves in until
the PSNI arrived.

The family have now left their home and are determined not to
return.

Commenting on this latest sectarian attack on a Catholic home
in Antrim Sinn Fein councillor Martin Meehan said the incident
was a terrifying ordeal for the family.

"These unionist paramilitaries tried to lure members of this
family outside with these bogus calls and when that failed
they moved in and tried to get into the house. The fact that
they tried to force their way into the house shows this was
attempted murder".

Meehan added that this is the latest in a blatantly sectarian
campaign by unionist paramilitaries to intimidate Catholics
from the Antrim area.

"Many nationalists will be watching closely the response of
the various unionists leaderships in the Antrim area in the
face of this latest attack".