Two young children clung to their father while six masked men beat him with nail-studded bars during a so-called paramilitary punishment attack in Northern Ireland.
Gerald Lavey, 30, speaking from his hospital bed on Wednesday, said that his nine-year-old daughter and five-year-old son had refused to let him go even while the gang, believed to be connected to the New IRA, inflicted horrific injuries on his head, arms and legs at family home in the strongly republican Creggan district of Derry on Monday.
Several hours later, a wheelie bin was pushed up against the front door and set alight. Police believe the incidents are linked.
“Any other night I would normally lock the door and put the keys out of reach so nobody could break the glass,” Lavey said.
“But the weans [children] didn’t lock the door and the next thing we heard was footsteps coming up the stairs and I just knew then that’s what it was.
“They were dragging me down the stairs into the garden and started battering me with iron bars. Just before, my wee girl clung onto me when she saw them and they just pulled her off me.”
Lavey said he had feared for the safety of his son and daughter during the attack, although they were not physically injured. He said: “It’s terrible, I don’t think they should have had to witness anything at all. They were squealing.
“I was lying on the garden and they were just welting into me with iron bars with nails on them.”
The 30-year-old denied claims by the gang that he was involved in drug dealing.
“While I was in the front garden getting battered, they were smashing up the house. One of them said ‘that’s enough, that’s enough’, but the last boy out had to hit me five or six slaps more and then they ran off down the street.” He said the gang mentioned drugs during the attack. “They were shouting about coke, but I don’t take any sort of drugs. I’m addicted to prescribed medication and that’s it. I don’t bother anybody. I just keep myself to myself. Cowards. They had to all come in masks and iron bars and it took five or six of them,” he added.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said some people in the region still go to paramilitary organisations seeking rough justice against those they believe are “antisocial elements”.
PSNI Chief Inspector Tony Callaghan condemned the attack on the Lavey family and said he suspected dissident republican involvement. He said: “Those who are involved in paramilitary-style attacks do not represent the interests of any community nor contribute anything to it.
“Communities have a choice, and it is clear that the vast majority of people here have chosen to support the police and support law and order.”
Police are also investigating an attack in the republican Lower Falls district of west Belfast on Tuesday night, during which a 26-year-old man was shot in both legs.
