11 March 1999 Edition
RUC put Maghrafelt children at risk
A mother of three from Maghrafelt awoke on Monday March 1to the RUC smashing in the front door. In a statement the woman said, ``I was in bed. I heard banging at the front door. I heard the front door being put in, then I heard people walking about.''
The Maghrafelt mother said the previous week she had reached an aggreement via her social worker, Mrs Reilly, with an RUC Sargeant McDonald to pay off outstanding fines. Despite this agreement the RUC raid the woman's house looking for the money. Reilly has since confirmed the agreement.
Sinn Fein Assembly member John Kelly, quickly on the scene after being phoned by the distressed mother, told AP/RN, ``the RUC intially refused to accept the payment despite the prior agreement and her willingness, they refused to show her the warrant which turned out to be an arrest warrant not a search warrant, so they had no right to be in her home or to break down the front door.''
``The female RUC officer present failed to display her number but,'' added Kelly, ``more seriously the RUC threatened to arrest the woman on the spot and take her to the barracks, leaving the children in the house unsupervised and distressed.''
The RUC also failed to advise her of the correct complaint channels.
The Maghrafelt mother said the previous week she had reached an aggreement via her social worker, Mrs Reilly, with an RUC Sargeant McDonald to pay off outstanding fines. Despite this agreement the RUC raid the woman's house looking for the money. Reilly has since confirmed the agreement.
Sinn Fein Assembly member John Kelly, quickly on the scene after being phoned by the distressed mother, told AP/RN, ``the RUC intially refused to accept the payment despite the prior agreement and her willingness, they refused to show her the warrant which turned out to be an arrest warrant not a search warrant, so they had no right to be in her home or to break down the front door.''
``The female RUC officer present failed to display her number but,'' added Kelly, ``more seriously the RUC threatened to arrest the woman on the spot and take her to the barracks, leaving the children in the house unsupervised and distressed.''
The RUC also failed to advise her of the correct complaint channels.