Pregnant woman forced to flee Co Derry home after loyalist sectarian attack

A PREGNANT woman has been forced to flee her Co Derry home after it was targeted by a loyalist gang in a sectarian attack.

        A pregnant woman stands in the           doorway of her home in a loyalist area       of Co Derry she has been forced to flee                 after a sectarian attack 

              12th September, 2022. 

The home of the young Protestant mother, whose partner is Catholic, was one of four attacked by masked men in the mainly unionist village of Culnady, near Maghera, on Wednesday night.

The victim, who is five-months pregnant, was later taken to hospital as a precaution.

  This is happening in for to many loyalist     areas right across NI. It seems loyalism       and the PUL community have a new           policy of cleansing unionist areas of            any Catholics living in their estates               or being in mixed relationships 

Front living room windows in the houses were smashed and the doors of three homes damaged during the attack, which police believe was sectarian.

The windows of a car parked outside one of the properties were also broken.

Police say three masked men, one carrying a large stick, were involved.

The attackers made off on foot before getting into a white Vauxhall Cavalier and driving off towards Gulladuff.

Police say they are treating the attack "as a sectarian hate crime".

   Sectarian attacks on school girls going       to a mixed (Protestant and Catholic)      school in a loyalist area of north Belfast.      Where loyalists were also blamed for            attacking Catholic homes on the                          outskirts of the school 

It is understood some of the families targeted are of mixed religion with one living in the area for more than a decade.

It is believed the majority of those singled out have vowed not to return.

Last night the pregnant victim, whose three-year-old son was asleep in the house, said she was shocked by the attack.

    PUL: Loyalists and Unionists showing        their true (Protestant culture) colours           and their definitely not red, white                                 and blue. 

She explained that when the gang attacked her partner told her to hide as he made his way to the door.

She then made her way upstairs to protect her son and rang the PSNI.

The victim, who is originally from Ballymena, said she moved to Culnady for a better life.

"I grew up in a bad place and moved to a quiet village for peace and a safe family home and that is what it was until this happened," he said.

She explained how she is struggling to come to terms with what has happened.

"I don't want to believe it's because it's because I found a good man who is a good role model for my child and gave me a family home and being picked on for being happy in my life," she said.

She no longer feels safe in areas where loyalist paramilitaries have a presence.

"I don't feel safe in a community that has paramilitaries because they are picking on me for being happy with a Catholic man," she said.

The woman added that some of her neighbours have been "ever so nice" with one giving her money to buy toys for her child.

Mid Ulster Sinn Féin councillor Sean McPeake was present when the victim was preparing to leave her home on Saturday.

"The homes were carefully chosen by loyalist sectarian thugs because of the perceived religious background of the home owners," he said.

"It is totally appalling that at this time we have a situation where a number of parents and young children have been forced to leave their homes because of loyalist sectarian intimidation."

He challenged those responsible to explain their actions.

"I would call on the perpetrators to publicly justify their actions as there can be no excuses for it," he said.

"What happened was totally despicable and should be condemned outright.

"To watch a heavily pregnant mother pack her cherished belongings and leave her family because of sectarian intimidation is heart breaking."

SDLP councillor Martin Kearney said the attack was "completely unacceptable".

With many thanks to the: Irish News and Connla Young SECURITY CORRESPONDENT for the original publication. 

Follow these links to find out more on this story: UDA threatens Catholics in Derry

NEW | PUL culture policy being blamed for sectarian attacks on four Catholic homes in Co Derry

Cleric rejects Dee Stitt’s suggestion that UDA/UFF part of ‘Protestant culture’ as Jamie Bryson announces north Down loyalist is ‘a client’

Pregnant woman forced to flee Co Derry home after loyalist sectarian attack

Cleric rejects Dee Stitt’s suggestion that UDA/UFF part of ‘Protestant culture’ as Jamie Bryson announces north Down loyalist is ‘a client’

A Protestant cleric has spoken out against attempts to link paramilitarism with Protestantism, saying he sees nothing Biblical about such groups.

     One of the images David 'Dee' Stitt           chose for his 'Protestant culture' tweet 

            Thursday 21st July, 2022. 

A Protestant cleric has spoken out against attempts to link paramilitarism with Protestantism, saying he sees nothing Biblical about such groups.

Rev Bill Shaw made the comments in response to David ‘Dee’ Stitt, the prominent north Down loyalist and former boss of the charity Charter NI.

Mr Stitt, claims to be an ex-UDA commander, tweeted out a message during the Twelfth week which showed pictures of UDA/UFF signs in Bangor, as well as enormous UDA/UFF flags.

Alongside this he said: “Our Protestant history, culture and heritage will never be taken away from us. It’s in our DNA.”

    Dee Stitt outside the office of Charter       NI, which he claims no longer employs          him but is still listed as a 'Peace IV                           Area Coordinator'. 

Charter NI, which runs off the back of substantial public funding, used to be run by Mr Stitt but he stepped aside from a leadership role there in 2018.

Charter NI says Mr Stitt no longer works for the charity, although its website continues to list him as “Peace IV Area Coordinator”.

Rev Shaw is listed as a director of Charter NI.

He said of Mr Stitt’s comments: “From a personal point of view I’d want to distance myself totally from that.

“The term Protestantism - that’s much abused, particularly within loyalism. That’s a fact. That’s not just my opinion.

“I struggle at this time of the year massively with these ‘expressions of culture’ as they put it. It’s never been part of my culture.”

      ALLEGED: UDA Brigadiers North                 Down's David 'Dee' Stitt & East                    Belfast's Jimmy 'Millions' Birch 

He added that he was talking about “paramilitarism” in particular, and that “most right-thinking people” feel the same.

“While that may be the claim on the part of Dee Stitt and the people he purports to represent... it’s never been part of my culture.

“And I think I’d say confidently that for the vast majority of the unionist community it’s not part of their culture either.

“Whatever else they might claim to be, loyalist or whatever, I don’t see any of the characteristics of Biblical Protestantism in how they conduct themselves.”

The News Letter asked Mr Stitt to clarify his remarks.

It was put to him that many people think the UDA is nothing to be proud of since it killed hundreds of innocent people. It was also put to him that the Bible has strong things to say about murder.

  Jamie Bryson normally the mouthpiece          for the UVF has now become the                mouthpiece also for the UDA I'm                 curious how that go down with                             his cohort Mackers          

A response came, but not from Mr Stitt. Instead fellow loyalist activist Jamie Bryson issued a message from his outfit JWB Consultancy “on behalf of my client David Stitt”.

It said: “There are many competing narratives and moral viewpoints in relation to the conflict in Northern Ireland.

“The existence of such different views is recognised by the Belfast Agreement itself, which - rightly or wrongly - at its heart was about bringing loyalist combatants and IRA terrorists into the political process.

“It is a demonstrable fact that the largest nationalist party, Sinn Fein, continue to endorse and celebrate the actions of the IRA who murdered and maimed thousands.

“If society endorses the right of Sinn Fein to take that view, which is grossly offensive to many in the PUL community, then it can not be the case that a different standard is applied to those who take a particular view of loyalism’s role during the IRA’s terrorist campaign.

       CHANGED TIMES: Now Jamie's outfit        JWB Consultancy now claims to have         the UDA on its books including Dee                   Stitt as one of his clients. 

“Mr Stitt stands over his views, and he is legitimately entitled to express them and hold them.

“His work in peace building activity is well known and it is possible to hold a particular view on the past, even one that some may find contentious, and to equally be a positive contributor to building a peaceful future.”

One of those who had re-tweeted Mr Stitt’s initial message linking Protestantism to the UDA was fellow loyalist activist Moore Holmes.

He was asked why he had done this, but did not respond.

With many thanks to the: News Letter and Adam Kula for the original publication. 

Follow these links to find out more on this story: Number of murals on public property growing – and loyalist ones far outnumber republican ones

‘UDA could not have picked worse target’: remembering the murder of primary school teacher Cyril Murray in east Belfast exactly three decades ago.

Marching for sodomite marriage-Presbyterian minister Bill Shaw

Cleric rejects Dee Stitt’s suggestion that UDA/UFF part of ‘Protestant culture’ as Jamie Bryson announces north Down loyalist is ‘a client’