NI Secretary urged to acknowledge role of UDA in McDaid murder
NORTHERN SECRETARY Shaun Woodward must acknowledge that the UDA was implicated in the murder of Kevin McDaid in Coleraine in May, according to John Dallat of the SDLP.
Separately, a Belfast woman has accused the UDA of vandalising her house and assaulting her nine-year-old son.
Mr Dallat, an SDLP Assembly member for East Derry, said it was clear following a court case last week relating to the murder of Mr McDaid that the UDA was involved.
He said it was also clear the PSNI believed the UDA was behind the assault that led to Mr McDaid’s death.
Mr Dallat said this raised questions for Mr Woodward in relation to the recent UDA statement that it had begun decommissioning its weapons and in relation to how funding for loyalist communities should be directed.
“Now that the truth has emerged it is important that the Secretary of State comes clean and tells us where these revelations leave the decommissioning process, which could lead to the UDA getting millions of pounds to develop so-called ‘community projects’,” he said.
Meanwhile, a woman whose nine-year-old son was struck by a baseball bat by a gang who damaged her home in Rathcoole, north Belfast, has blamed the UDA for the attack.
Lisa Moore said her son Tyler was assaulted when the gang systematically vandalised rooms in her home at about 1.45am on Saturday.
The boy was kept in hospital overnight for observation. Ms Moore, who was uninjured, said they could not return to the house. She said she did not know why the UDA allegedly carried out the attack.
Police have appealed to anyone with information about the incident to come forward.
