The wife of a Northern Ireland Assembly candidate collapsed after a brick wrapped in an opposition party's poster was thrown through a window of their home, it emerged today.
Mr Kieran McCarthy, who was standing for the Alliance Party in Strangford, Co Down, was out canvassing last night when a brick smashed through his living room window.
Mr McCarthy said his wife, Kathleen, who was alone in their Kircubbin home on the shores of Strangford Lough when the attack occurred, could have been badly injured if she was in the room.
"The brick was deliberately wrapped in a Sinn Féin election poster so there was a message there somewhere," he said. "My wife passed out with shock about half-an-hour later in the company of police so the shock was quite severe."
Police officers examined the brick and took it away for forensic tests.
Mr McCarthy said he had no idea why his home had been attacked. He insisted he was still hopeful of holding on to his Assembly seat, despite early indications that his vote had fallen.