Family terror as teens attack

A Lurgan mum has told of her terror as ‘a gang of up to 50 youths’ went on the rampage in Taghnevan and smashed up her car.
Thugs smash car in TaghnevanThugs smash car in Taghnevan
Thugs smash car in Taghnevan

The mum, who was too frightened to be named, said the Friday night attack had left her very emotional and in tears.

She said thugs had smashed up her car and caused huge damage to the vehicle including boot marks on the bonnet.

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The woman said ‘gangs of youths’ are regularly invading the black path close to the playing fields and torturing locals.

She praised the PSNI who arrived quickly when she called them on Friday evening.

“They chased them up the fields,” said the Taghnevan mum.

She added that when she spoke to police soon after, an officer told her none of the kids appeared to be from the area. “He told me they were from Laurencetown and when the police asked what they were doing round here, they gave them cheek, saying they could go where they like.”

She called for the authorities to close off the black path as it has been a magnet for anti-social behaviour. “We have been calling for that path to be closed off for years,” she said.

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“A lot of people are fed up because you can’t go out and give off to these kids anymore. It’s just too scary as you don’t now what they are going to do to you,” she added.

“Even the police can do nothing about it, even though they try. Everyone’s hands seem to be tied,” she said.

The young mum recalled how the NI Fire Service had to be called last week when a bunch of girls aged around 16/17 gathered dried grass and put it up against a neighbour’s fence setting it on fire.

“These young ones are all drinking and everyone suspects them to be doing drugs as well.

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“These children are being allowed to run the streets wild. I blame the parents but none of them seem to want to own up that it is their own children doing it,” she added. Since the incident the woman said she has received a lot of community support and called for the black path at the playing field to be sealed off.