'I came to help people - then my home was attacked'

Image source, Pacemaker

Image caption, Police are treating the incident as a racially-motivated hate crime.
  • Author, Elaine Mitchell & Faye Kidd
  • Role, 91热爆 News NI

A healthcare worker says she no longer feels safe in Northern Ireland after her home was attacked.

Lanie said she had moved to Ballyclare five months ago to take up a job helping others, and thought the County Antrim village was peaceful.

But she came home from work on Wednesday to find a brick had been thrown through her front window and her car's windscreen smashed.

"I did not expect this to happen here in my area. I told my parents I was safe. My area is peaceful", she told 91热爆 News NI.

Lanie鈥檚 parents back in the Philippines were worried about their daughter and eight-year-old granddaughter when they read about racist rioting in Belfast.

"I like it here, I came here to support the people here. I love doing this job and then suddenly, an experience like this, it鈥檚 really hard. I am still in shock," she said.

Video caption, Ballyclare attack: 'I told my parents I was safe in Northern Ireland'

In the Philippines, Lanie was a mechanical engineer.

But she said she loved helping people so in Northern Ireland she found work in healthcare.

"I know we are just foreigners here and not really local people so I wish they would accept us, what we do is serve their people, we came here to work not to harm their country," she said.

"Now I don鈥檛 know if I should stay or not, but hopefully it will be sorted out."

"I have to move on, continue life, forgive those people and I still pray they will not do this to others".

Image caption, Lanie's landlord and neighbour helped her organise a carpenter to come and remove the glass.

There have been a series of racially-motivated attacks and violent disorder since Saturday, following an anti-immigration protest in Belfast.

Police have made a number of arrests since the weekend.

There has been widespread disorder across the UK - which erupted after the fatal stabbing of three girls in Southport - with unrest fuelled by misinformation online.

'Good thing my daughter is not here'

With help from her landlord and neighbour, Lanie has organised for the glass to be fixed before her daughter returns to the house.

"I don鈥檛 want her to know about this situation. I don鈥檛 want her to be involved in this. I want her to still like Northern Ireland and I don鈥檛 want her to have a dramatic experience," she said.

Lanie's landlord told 91热爆 News NI he was horrified by what had happened and he had installed CCTV.

"The tenant is a hard working healthcare worker who is very well respected by her neighbours," he said.

"This act is not a reflection of the immediate area."

Police are investigating a report of criminal damage after the attack on Lanie's home and are treating it is a raciall-motivated hate crime.