https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/heavily-pregnant-woman-forced-home-31473213
A heavily pregnant woman forced out of her home in what police are treating as a "sectarian hate crime" has said she's been left with nothing and nowhere to go.
The woman, who asked not to be named, told Belfast Live she had just moved into a house in Tildarg Avenue, in the Suffolk area of west Belfast, little more than a week ago. She discovered her car had been vandalised with the words "get out" spraypainted on it, and the tyres slashed on Friday morning.
She is due to give birth in just five weeks. Police have confirmed the incident is being treated as a sectarian hate crime.
The woman, who is Catholic, said: "I actually had my little sister staying with me and I was up early. I was bringing the dog out to the grass in the morning to let him go to the toilet at about 8:45. And I walked out the front door and that was just on the car."
The woman, whose family is not from Belfast, had already been finding it difficult being far away from her support network.
Fighting through tears, the pregnant woman said: "We literally got everything out of the house and there and then. I, I have no family up here."
She said she spent all her money getting work done to the house after being "hesitant" about accepting a home in the area initially.
"From the very start, I was hesitant about even taking [the house she was offered in] the area," she said. "In this day and age you're waiting ages to be housed so I thought I'll maybe ask to see if, you know, maybe it's worth taking. I did actually ask around. My partner was told it's OK for me to take the house, to move in. This was not even 2 weeks ago. I was literally only in the place about a week and a half."
She continued: "My partner, when he was there to help me move in, was asked are you Catholic or Protestant? They just asked him straight up, and he had just said 'Protestant' when he was put on the spot. You know, we're not gonna blast it everywhere [that they are Catholic], we're gonna be respectful and just go in and out and keep our heads down. Then, like two or three days later, that's when that happened to the car."
Asked where she can go in the meantime, the young woman said: "Literally nowhere."
She said after leaving the property in Suffolk, she stayed at her partner's mum's house, which is a three bedroom property already occupied by multiple people – including her partner's brother who has special needs.
"We can't throw his mother out of her bed, of course not," she said. "I literally just slept on the sofa and, you know, obviously we're grateful for anything at the minute, but I mean we can't bring a baby in here, we haven't even got a room."
With the knowledge the baby could arrive at any minute, the sectarian hate crime victim said: "I'm just trying to, you know, stay positive. The last thing I need is to go into early labour."
She added: "I used every bit of money that I had just to be able to get that place painted, with flooring done. Like, they watched me bringing the painter, getting all the flooring in, and as soon as all that got done – they waited until all the work was done – and then they put me out on Thursday morning. I've spent everything I had."
She is now being given assistance by the Sinn Fein MP Paul Maskey, who described her treatment as "sickening" and "absolutely disgraceful".
The pregnant woman said: "As far as Paul Maskey and Sinn Fein, they're the only people that have reached out and offered help and support. Nobody else has. So they're in contact with the housing and they're asking for meetings and stuff. He gave me a call this morning, just saying that they are trying to get me somewhere local, and they'll update me. But it is obviously quite tough with everything being closed until Wednesday."
In a statement, Mr Maskey said: "I was made aware of threats to a young woman in the Suffolk area who is heavily pregnant, forcing her to move out of her home.
"I have since contacted her and will be making representations on her behalf to the PSNI and Housing Executive."
The Sinn Fein MP added: "This kind of behaviour is sickening, uncalled for and absolutely disgraceful. Everyone must be able to live free from threats, fear and intimidation."
A spokesperson for the PSNI said: "Police received a report of criminal damage to a car in the Tildarg Avenue area of west Belfast on Friday, April 18. It was reported that sometime overnight, the vehicle had been spray-painted and two tyres were slashed."
The spokesperson added: "Anyone who was in the area at the time and saw anything, or who may have CCTV or other video footage, is asked to contact police on 101, quoting reference 344 of 18/4/25. Alternatively, you can submit a report online using the non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/."
Belfast Live has approached the Northern Ireland Housing Executive for comment.
by whataboutery1234
28 comments
Should be charged for hate crimes. Very pathetic people
I can’t believe this shit is still happening
Telling someone to get out and slashing their tires at the same time seems incredibly stupid…
It’s incredible that the same species that can build rockets that go into space can also be capable of such bigoted hatred like this. It’s so embarrassing in the 21st century.
A shower of bastards.
Political Unionism does nothing to deter these attacks.
Yeah…this is why my grandparents left Ireland when they were fourteen to get married in Scotland, ones catholic, the other protestant, their marriage happy lasted until my name passed away in her 90s.
LetstalkLoyalism
Please don’t.
Some assholes in this country, unbelievable.
So, when I was away from NI I met my now wife and we were deciding where we wanted to settle, we did eventually choose to come here but it was explaining embarrassing shit like this that made it not an obvious choice.
Why not find the culprits and turf them out onto the streets…take their houses and give to folk who aren’t scumbags…I don’t particularly care if it’s “bad apples” or “kids messing around” maybe parents will start parenting if their house is at stake.
Fucking knuckledragging scumbags
I’m from Cornwall but live in NI , how exactly can these morons tell if someone is Catholic?
Lovely NI
Fucking scumbags
Scummy fucks, not welcome in 21st century NI. Fuck back off to the 70s you sectarian pricks.
Absolute disgrace.
We have been living on a Catholic council estate as a family of non-practicing protestant and Orthodox christian and we have never had any issue with the neighbours about who is what.
Why does it even matter? How meaningless your life must be to treat other people like that.
Police should really arrest those people and they should be put in prison. Shame on the community hiding them!
This is absolutely horrible, and id like nothing more than for those responsible to be held to account…however, one millisecond of a glance at that [that location on street view](https://maps.app.goo.gl/3ZzQ4L6bzRV7B37EA) should have been enough to make a move there completely non-negotiable. I’m not even Catholic but I wouldn’t touch that place with a barge pole.
By Jesus lads, has the century taught us nothing?
This sounds strange for to happen just out of the blue could there be more to the story if was just because someone was a Catholic then it’s a disgrace this day and age
Sadly it’s a regular occurrence in virtually every estate in the country. Much of this is about power-hungry thugs asserting control over their patch like pissing dogs, which is no less depressing than the old sectarian motivations.
Ira scum
I didn’t think Suffolk had much sectarianism still, I regularly be in this area and it seems really mixed especially the bottom end near the Balmoral. It’s shocking to see this happen there, although I did walk down Blacks Road on the 12th of July about 3 years ago and seen some UDA flags and they still have the big union flag at the tip beside the police station.
Just goes to show you though, there’s hateful people EVERYWHERE and the people responsible for this should be charge with hate crimes.
My mate got a flat here i helped him move in and he was put out after 2 days, for no reason at all, decent hard working fella aswell. When I was helping him move in one of the neighbours living above confronted us said we don’t want the likes of you moving in, same night his windows were put in and was hit with a brick coming through is bedroom window.
And people say this place could join up with a normal state like the ROI??? Still a basket case
Ugh.
Sadly still a number of areas around the country with a siege mentality. Hostile to others from backgrounds that don’t mirror those within the broader area with a perfect symmetry.
Why does the housing executive allow this to happen? Look I know beggars can’t be choosers and we should all be grateful for a helping hand, but surely someone looks at the woman being of one background and knowing the history and the people of an area may choose not to place them in said area?
These lads are cowards they will only damage property and throw stuff through windows when no one is around or can see them. Going after a pregnant woman too. Scumbags. Would only make me dig my heels in even more though I would never move to an estate with Union Jacks flying about the place either
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