Woman shot in both legs in north Belfast ‘punishment’ attack

SDLP Assembly member Alban Maginness has described as "sickening and vile" a suspected so-called punishment attack which left a 47-year-old north Belfast woman undergoing surgery for gunshot wounds to both legs.

The woman was shot as she fled her attackers on Sunday night. She was shot outside her flat in Ballyronan Park in the loyalist Rathcoole area of north Belfast around 7.45pm. She received surgery for her injuries which are understood not to be life-threatening.

A 40-year-old man who was also in the flat sustained minor injuries to his legs and chin after he was assaulted at the scene. Two masked men, one believed to be armed with a handgun, were involved in the incident, according to the PSNI. Another man escaped uninjured.

In the 12 months to January 31st this year there were 81 such paramilitary “punishment” attacks in the North compared to 65 in the previous year – an increase of 16.

It is unusual for women to be shot in such incidents. North Belfast MLA Mr Maginness said those involved had “committed an unspeakably cruel crime and must be brought to justice”.

He encouraged anyone with information to bring it to the PSNI and added, “For anyone to so viciously and callously inflict gunshot wounds on anyone is totally abhorrent. But to shoot a woman as she flees her home for safety is sickening and vile.”