'Young thugs must be arrested and brought before the courts'

Following a recent public meeting during which more than 50 local householders from Carnhill, Carnvue and other nearby areas voiced their anger at the ongoing attacks on them and their property, two local councillors have urged the police to do more to put a stop to the trouble.

Alderman Nigel Hamilton, who chaired the meeting at Mossley Mill, said that immediate action must be taken to resolve the problems being experienced by residents.

"Effective and robust policing is unquestionably the first step to identifying and apprehending the young thugs and criminals who have attacked homes, vandalised cars, verbally abused residents, threatened them in the street, thrown petrol bombs at homes and set fires," the District Policing Partnership member commented.

"The opportunity to follow up arrests, Anti-Social Behaviour Orders and Acceptable Behaviour Contracts with a partnership approach is an important step towards a long-term resolution, but there can be no ignoring the current abuses which residents are having to put up with and the protagonists must be brought before the judicial system.

"No-one in Newtownabbey should have to sustain such abuse at any time and I gave residents my commitment, along with that of DPP colleagues who attended the meeting, that we would not tolerate this behaviour," he added.

The DUP representative revealed that another public meeting will be arranged in the coming weeks to update local residents on the situation and hear their ongoing concerns.

Mayor John Scott, who has been approached by a number of householders in the area who have been targeted and threatened by teenage yobs in recent months, believes an 'alleygating' scheme would help stem the ongoing trouble.

"This has been going on for months and months. This crowd are torturing people, not only in Carnhill, but in all the surrounding areas. There should be a bigger police presence in the area to get it stopped.

"The whole problem stems from the alleyway that runs from Carnhill through to the Carnmoney Road. If there were alleygates and it was closed off at nights it would stop the young people annoying people, wrecking their property and then making a quick getaway. Closing the alley at nights would inconvenience some people, but it would go a long way to sorting part of this problem," the UUP man said.