Hundreds of children aged between six and 12 living on a housing estate in Waterford city have been accused of terrorising one of their neighbours with a campaign of intimidation.
Ms Margaret Cooley, who lives with her 24-year-old son Jason in Clonard Park on the Ballybeg estate, says she has had to endure all kinds of nuisance in recent weeks.
Mud is routinely being thrown at her door and windows.
Ms Cooley's front door was also kicked by the children, cracking the glass and she even spotted youngsters in her back garden where they urinated on her pet dog.
Ms Cooley, who is separated, claims to have contacted the children's parents, who promised to exert greater control over them.
She also reported the incidents to gardaí.
However, the most frightening incident followed these efforts to resolve the situation.
Two live hamsters - which Ms Cooley initially believed to be rats - were pushed through her letter box last week.
Her son trapped the hamsters under a bucket and killed them.
A shotgun was discharged a year ago into a separate house in Clonard Park occupied at the time by Ms Cooley's daughter, her boyfriend and two young children.
That family was subsequently transferred to another address by Waterford City Council.
Gardaí investigating the attacks on Ms Cooley's home say they are following a definite line of inquiry and anticipate arrests shortly.
In a separate incident, a young mother and her 18-month-old baby are also seeking a transfer to alternative local authority accommodation.
Five masked men smashed all the front windows in their house at Ardmore Park in Ballybeg.