Armagh single mom 'sofa surfing' after shocking sectarian attack on her doorstep

A County Armagh single mom says she has left her home as per police advice after men banged and kicked on her front door while shouting sectarian abuse on Sunday, April 30.

"Officers investigating a reported hate crime in the Ashleigh Crescent area of Lurgan on Sunday 30 April have made an arrest,” a PSNI spokesperson said on Tuesday, May 2.

"A 34-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted criminal damage. He was later bailed to allow for further enquiries."

The arrest came after a man was captured on a Ring security camera on Sunday, April 30 knocking on the door of the 21-year-old single mother’s home in the Ashleigh Crescent area of Lurgan, Co Armagh.

The woman shared her footage in a public social media post the following day that has since gone viral, gaining more than 450k views as of Tuesday evening.

The video shows the first man kicking and slamming at the door when no one answers. Another man, presumably a friend of the first man, then comes up to the door and kicks it as well.

Soon, an unknown woman approaches from outside and tells the men to leave as the second man places his hand over the security camera.

The first man then returns to the door as the woman tells him, “your niece and nephew are watching you!” Still, the man is relentless and continues to hit on the door.

A third man then joins the first man on the doorstep and the two attempt to hit the security camera but are unsuccessful in attempting to dismantle it. 

The first man then turns to the woman, who is still trying to get them to leave, and say,s “We’re only havin’ a laugh.”

He then yells “Open the f***ing door" while again hitting and kicking at the door. 

When no one answers, he shouts “Bastards, ye. F***in’ Fenian c**t.”

The man is finally convinced by his friends to walk away, though once in the street, he continues to shout at the house: “Fenian bastards. F***in’ Fenian c**t.”

In her public social media post, which included pictures of the boot marks on her front door, the woman wrote that she “never thought” she would have to share such a video and that she thought she "would be safe” in the area.

She said the incident occurred around 9pm on Sunday, around the time she was putting her one-and-a-half-year-old son to bed.

“I heard an awful racket at the door,” she wrote, adding that she and her son are "traumatized" by the "thugs."

“This was for nothing,” she added, “it can't be described as anything but sectarianism pure hatred for me because of my religion.”

The woman wrote: “They are clearly saying in the video below ‘get this Fenian out and 'the taigs in.'"

She continued: “How anyone can justify this is beyond me.

“We should be safe and left to live in peace. I've never caused an issue or had a complaint made against me.”

She added: “Not the first single girl to be targeted [and] made to make leave the area.”

Shockingly, the woman has since told Belfast Live: "After the police came, they advised that it could be safer to leave the area and I definitely won't be back to that area ever again.

"The Housing Executive have told me there are no suitable properties for me to go to at the minute so I am having to sofa surf for a while until one becomes available but they have told me that I am a priority."

The incident has been widely condemned by politicians.

Doug Beattie, head of Northern Ireland's Ulster Unionist Party, said the video was "appalling" and that the incident was "not acceptable."

"I say to everybody, will you leave people alone, just let people live their lives," Beattie said on Tuesday. "Life is difficult enough ... without people coming to your door, without threatening sectarian behavior, without division, without promoting division."

Colum Eastwood, head of Northern Ireland's SDLP, said the behavior in the video was "sick" and that the perpetrators should face justice.

DUP MP Carla Lockhart said the video was "reprehensible."

Alliance MLA Eóin Tennyson said the footage was "sickening and chilling," and that "The cancerous sectarianism on display in the video must be unequivocally condemned by us all."