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Bushmills nail attack: Community shock over ‘horrible’ attack in car park

Posted on by angelo

Legend, The PSNI said a man suffered potentially life-changing injuries after being pinned to a fence.

Residents of a Co Antrim town have expressed shock at an “absolutely horrific” attack in which a man’s hands were nailed to a fence.

He had a nail stuck in each hand.

Police described the attack as having levels of “ultraviolence”, while an assembly member from the area described it as “barbaric”.

Anne McIlroy, from Portballintrae, who was shopping in the town on Tuesday, said “no one deserves this”, adding it was “a very cruel thing to do”.

“I was shocked, it’s a beautiful village we have and it’s not necessary,” she added.

Legend, Anne McIlroy, from Portballintrae, expressed her disgust at the attack

Police said paramilitary involvement was one of the main lines of investigation.

Two vans, including one belonging to the injured man, were found on fire in the car park near Dundarave Park.

Graffiti on nearby public toilets has been linked to the assault and arson.

Earlier on Tuesday, TUV leader Jim Allister said those responsible for the attack aimed to “impose their terror on the region”.

Mr Allister, MP for the area, said it was “barbaric”.

“The lawful authorities are responsible for dealing with reported crimes and now I hope they will hunt down those who have inflicted these crimes on this person and the community,” he told TV’s Good Morning Ulster. BBC Radio Ulster.

Legend, Two vans were found on fire in the car park near Dundarave Park in Bushmills

“It wasn’t just about him, it was about the whole community.”

Mr Allister said the attack appeared to have “the hallmarks of paramilitarism”.

“The people of Bushmills, like everywhere else, are indeed and resolutely law-abiding, they want to live their lives in peace and they want anyone who wants to disrupt that to get off their backs, and why wouldn’t they?”

He added that “it’s imperative that instead of a shortage of policing on the ground, we have sufficient policing and I think that’s what has been lacking, particularly in many areas most rural areas of Northern Ireland, and this needs to be addressed.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has been contacted for comment.

“A little shocking”

On stage: Grainne Connolly, BBC News NI

Dundarave Park, where a man was nailed to a fence this weekend, is clearly a residential area, with a play park just around the corner from where the attack took place.

The fence, which is at the rear of a house on the estate, remains unrepaired and a vehicle which burned in a nearby car park remains near the scene.

The nearby car park is full of campervans and a few coaches carrying tourists on day trips to the Giant’s Causeway and Bushmills Distillery.

Legend, Keiren, from Liverpool, said the incident was “shocking”.

Keiren, from Liverpool, traveled with his family in campervans to visit the north coast.

He said they did not hear about the incident until they arrived in the village.

“It’s a little shocking,” he said.

Asked if that would have deterred them from coming to the village, he said: “Maybe it happened in the city center. It’s a rare occasion for something like that to happen. ”

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said the man suffered injuries that could be life-changing, but were not life-threatening.

Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton told BBC News NI it was a “truly shocking incident with levels of ultra-violence”.

Video caption, Kieran McEvoy described Bushmills attack as a ‘dark incident’

Kieran McEvoy, a tour guide from the Republic of Ireland, said none of the tourists he accompanied to the north coast had heard of the attack.

“No one has told me anything or seems to know about it and I haven’t spoken about it,” he said.

“I’m trying to present Ireland in a positive light and this is a dark incident.

“We don’t hear much about it anymore, so it didn’t occur to me to talk about it.”

‘Really worried’

In the Northern Ireland Assembly on Tuesday, Alliance MP Sian Mulholland said there was “no justification for this type of behavior in 2024”.

“We are 26 years after the Good Friday Agreement, enough is enough and that is what the community says.”

She says she has had contact with parents in the village who are “really worried”.

“How do they tell their children what’s happening in the news and why their city is on the news?

“How do they stop the conversations that will undoubtedly take place in the playground?”

DUP MP Paul Frew also told the gathering that it was a “sinister attack, of atrocious violence and brutality, perpetrated against an individual who, like every other member of the public, has the right to live free from the threat and impact of violence.”

“This criminal behavior must be universally and unequivocally condemned.”