Young nationalist stabbed twice

A 21-year-old nationalist man is in a stable condition in hospital after being stabbed in the stomach and arm in a sectarian attack by a group of loyalists as he walked through the Old Mill Road in Newtownabbey at around 1am on Tuesday 12 October.

A number of loyalists jumped from a car and attacked the man, who fought back but was stabbed once in the stomach and in the arm.

A number of eyewitnesses said they had seen the car from which the attackers emerged cruising the Newtownabbey area. In one instance, the loyalists tried to kill nationalist pedestrians when they mounted the pavement and drove at speed towards them.

North Belfast Sinn Féin councillor Danny Lavery described the attack as attempted murder. "This latest sectarian attack on this young lad was premeditated and going by the accounts of local residents, the perpetrators were driving around the area looking for an easy target," he said.

Calling on nationalists to be, "very vigilant", Lavery said, "unionist paramilitaries are determined to raise sectarian tensions in the Newtownabbey area in an attempt to drive Catholics out".

Last year, in the same area, 37-year-old Catholic Paul Denvir was viciously attacked by four loyalists armed with hammers. The father of one lost an eye and underwent several hours of reconstructive surgery to his face, such was the ferocity of the sectarian assault.