‘I was terrified’: Boy, 13, on the moment Belfast brick attack narrowly missed his mum and baby sister

A family in north Belfast have described their terror after a piece of masonry thrown through the window of their home narrowly avoided hitting a woman and her baby.

The attack occurred at around 8:30pm last night, where a large brick smashed through a living room window of the Al Hamada home in the Cliftonville Road area.

The family have described how the brick was fortunately deflected by wood boarding on the inside of the property, shielding the young mother – who was feeding her two-month-old baby at the time – from being hit.

Sultan Al Hamada (20) was at his business in south Belfast when the attack on his home occurred.

He said: “Thankfully, the wooden board was there and blocked the stone from going through the window because my sister was feeding her baby beside it.

“It was a heavy stone and it would have went through hard if it wasn’t blocked by the wood.”

Sultan described this as the first time they have ever had any trouble since moving to the area.

Abdu (13) lives at the home with his mum, younger brother and three sisters.

His dad and older brother weren’t home so he rushed out to see what had happened.

“I was sleeping and I heard the women screaming and I didn’t know what was going on, so I ran and opened the door, I thought it might have been our neighbour whose gas broke or something,” he explained.

“But when I saw what happened I was terrified. It was definitely a big guy, it can’t be a small guy as you can see the rock is huge.”

His younger brother Haza (10) who plays football for a local club, was also in bed when he woke to the sound of screaming from his mother and sisters.

He said: “I heard my sister’s and mum screaming and I came outside with my brother, he went first.”

It is believed there was more than one suspect at the scene when the attack on the property occurred.

Police at the scene said they would monitor the area throughout the night.

They confirmed they would attempt to identify the suspects through CCTV footage obtained by neighbouring homes.

News Catch Up – Thursday 14th November