A Sinn Féin councillor says she believes a loyalist gang intent on taking Catholic lives is roaming the streets of Ardoyne.
This man, pictured right, narrowly escaped death as a gang of men and a woman stabbed him repeatedly in his back as he walked home along Brompton Park on Friday night.
Councillor Margaret McClenaghan said this was the second time in a month that a young man had been attacked with knives in the same street by a knife-wielding gang cruising in a car. The first victim, aged 28, sustained horrific injuries, losing two fingers in the attack which took place at the beginning of August. The latest victim was stabbed seven times in a frenzied attack.
"This is the second sectarian attack in the middle of Ardoyne. People need to be so careful," Margaret McClenaghan said. "He's a lucky man to be able to tell his story because, looking at his wounds, they were very determined to kill him.
"I think after the week we've had, we definitely have a loyalist murder gang roaming the streets looking for a victim."
Friday night's victim spoke to the Andersonstown News from his home in Ardoyne yesterday (Sunday) about his ordeal. He is too frightened to be named.
It was the first anniversary of his mother's death and he explained that before the attack he had just left a bar where he had gone for a drink and a chat with a friend. Around midnight the pair were walking down Brompton Park when they noticed a car with blacked-out windows parked in the street.
A young blonde-haired woman got out of the car and asked him for directions to a local club, when suddenly the man's hooded top was pulled over his eyes and he was brought crashing to the ground.
"While my back was turned the passenger got out, he pulled the hood over my head, and the next thing I knew I was on the ground being stabbed," the 29-year-old said.
"The girl was saying 'cut the Fenian bastard' in this really evil voice. She wasn't shouting, just talking really calmly. Then the driver got out. My mate has cystic fibrosis so he couldn't help me, he wasn't able, but he saw the driver get out. But his cap fell off. He had a machete but when the cap fell off he jumped back in.
"I don't know when I managed to break free but I punched one of them in the nose. Then the fella and girl jumped into the car. They didn't speed off, they drove away really slow."
The young man was taken to hospital by ambulance and was treated for seven stab wounds to his back and shoulder. He received 21 stitches. The victim said he would be talking to his solicitor about the way the PSNI handled his incident. He said that they didn't take his blood-soaked top for examination or take swabs of blood from his hands which had the blood of his attacker on them.
"I was taken away by an ambulance, and when the police came down to hospital for five minutes and took a brief statement, they asked me if I could identify the people that did it. I said yes. And they said, if we do catch them, it'll be your word against theirs."
The PSNI came back to the victim's house the next day for a further statement and also took his car.
"They said the tax and insurance was up. It was – by about three weeks, and I hadn't managed to get it sorted."
The PSNI had not provided us with a comment as we went to press.
