03/03/2008

Taxi Driver Injured In Brick Attack

A taxi driver is being treated in hospital for severe facial and head injuries, after a brick was thrown through a car window near Newtownards, County Down.

Jackie Anderson, from Newtownards, had been driving along the Portaferry Road shortly before 10.30pm on Saturday when the attack took place. The brick had been thrown from a car travelling in the opposite direction.

Mr Anderson, who is said to be in a stable condition, faces reconstructive surgery to his nose after the attack. He was found semi-conscious after the incident by a family who had escaped injury in a similar attack shortly after.

Dermot Gilmore had been driving home from the Odyssey Arena in Belfast with his wife and two young sons when a brick was thrown at his car, hitting his bonnet and windscreen.

In a third incident, a group of youths threw a bottle at a woman's car two miles outside Portaferry, shattering her windscreen. She was described as "shaken", but escaped serious injury.

(JM/KMcA)

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