Petrol attack on SF man’s house
Minor scorch damage was caused to the front door
The home of a Sinn Fein councillor in County Down has been damaged in a petrol bomb attack.
A device was thrown at a house in Edenderry Park in Banbridge on Monday night.
Councillor Dessie Ward, who was elected to the district council this year, was there with his mother and younger brother.
Dessie Ward
No-one was hurt in the attack. However, Mr Ward said he and his family were lucky to be alive.
Minor scorch damage was caused to the front door of the house.
The attack took place at about 2345 BST.
Mr Ward said he noticed a flash of light outside his home.
“I made my way to the blinds and saw a masked man with a petrol bomb in his hands,” he said.
He said the man threw the device and then made off down an alleyway.
“My mother and 11-year-old brother were in the house at the time.
“I just alerted the rest of the household - but it was all over so quickly… I was able to put the fire out - nobody was hurt, thank God.
“I think the people behind it are still trying go come to terms with the fact that Banbridge District Council has a sitting Sinn Fein councillor.
“Attacks like these in Banbridge are just part and parcel of sectarian attacks against the nationalist community at this time of year… this is nothing new for Banbridge.”
Sinn Fein assembly member John O’Dowd said the family was “extremely fortunate to have escaped injury in this attack upon their home”.
“Those behind this attack clearly had the intention of causing death or serious injury to members of the Ward family,” he said.
“In recent weeks, there has been an escalation in the numbers of fire-bomb and pipe-bomb attacks carried out by unionist paramilitary factions and directed against nationalists in different parts of the north.”
