Mother fears for children’s lives

A NIGERIAN mother-of-five said she is fearful for her children’s lives after an attack was carried out on her Waterford home on Tuesday evening.

Mary Simon, aged 38, was at work with the Brothers of Charity in Waterford on Tuesday at about 11.30pm when the windows on the ground floor of her terraced house in Clonard Park, Ballybeg, were broken in what she said was an unprovoked attack.

Ms Simon’s son Victor, 17, was at home with brothers Samuel, 15, and Solomon, 13, when he heard the windows smash.

Ms Simon’s daughters Abbeygail, 10, and Favour, 6, were being cared for by a family friend when the attack, the second in weeks, occurred. The family, originally from Lagos in Nigeria, have been living in Waterford for six years and in Ballybeg, a local authority housing estate near the city centre, for just six months.

Gardaí in Waterford say that they are not treating the attack as racially motivated.

“It’s not a racist attack,” said Sergeant Larry Langton of Waterford Garda Station. “As far as we’d be concerned, it’s a case of criminal damage to a house and that’s how we’re investigating it.”

Victor Simon said: “I heard a sound so I peeped outside; I didn’t open the window and I saw some people run off.

“Then I came down; I came out, but I didn’t see anyone — I was scared. I told my brothers to go inside — I did the best I could.

“I had to call my mum, because I knew I couldn’t handle anything on my own,” he added.

“I was afraid for my family because you never know what people have in mind.”

However, some locals yesterday said they don’t know why the attack happened and insist the motive could not have been racist.

One neighbour said: “There are five coloured families living in the area and there’s never any problems; sure all the kids play together and there’s never any problems.”

The city council’s anti-social behaviour officer visited the scene yesterday morning and spoke to some local people. Anyone with information is asked to contact the local Garda station.

Ballybeg-based Councillor Tom Murphy said that those who carried out the attack were “thugs” and said that there were many families from different cultures living in the area, “and there has never been any problem before”.