STABBED TEEN 'LUCKY TO BE ALIVE'
THERE have been renewed calls for the Newtownabbey Way walking and cycling path to be blocked off at the interface between Monkstown and Whiteabbey.
Local residents made the appeal this week after a 17-year-old boy was stabbed, and several homes in the area were attacked by youths throwing stones - the latest in a catalogue of sectarian and anti-social incidents over recent months.
The teenager was stabbed in the back with a screwdriver near Abbeyglen Park on Sunday afternoon. He was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast for treatment and has since been discharged.
A relative of the victim who spoke to the Times on Monday, said the boy is lucky to be alive.
"He was stabbed in the back with a screwdriver. Luckily it just missed his lung by a couple of inches. If it had punctured his lung he could've been killed," she revealed.
"We live in a mixed area. There are Catholics and Protestants living here, the kids go to all different schools, including Monkstown and Hazelwood, this sort of thing shouldn't be happening around here."
The woman, a former community worker in the area, said that a small handful of ringleaders on both sides are orchestrating the ongoing violence using mobile phone calls and text messages.
"The vast majority of the kids don't want this trouble and the residents want it stopped. The police tell us they're short staffed and there's nothing they can do about it, but someone is going to have to do something before someone ends up getting killed."
The brother of the stabbing victim revealed that his injuries "weren't too serious", but he puts the series of violent incidents in the area in recent months down to the opening of the Newtownabbey Way.
"These incidents have all occurred due to this path which was created without residents' permission. It leaves all residents and children in danger and under constant threat," he claimed.
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Weather for Newtownabbey
Tuesday 07 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 4 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 5 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: South
