The teenage daughter of a man shot in a paramilitary-style attack in Co Derry offered his attackers her piggy bank if they would spare her father.
According to a post on a local Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Facebook page, they also threatened to shoot her, and stole her mobile phone to prevent her calling for help.
Her 45-year-old father was shot in both arms and legs by masked men who broke into their home in the Kurin Lane area of Garvagh on Saturday night.
The police in Limavady took to social media to condemn the attack, saying: "I don't care what you think about the rights and wrongs of vigilante criminal thugs in OUR streets shooting people, but what about this innocent young teenage girl?"
Citing an online news article about the attack, the post said: “What this article doesn’t tell you is that the thug chased the young girl upstairs and threatened her when she hid.
"She came out petrified with her Piggy Bank, HER PIGGY BANK! hoping that the men would take it and leave her Dad alone."
Det Chief Insp White said the victim was also beaten with a bat or metal bar, and an attempt was made to set fire to items in the house.
The injured man is in hospital receiving treatment for gunshot wounds and head injuries.
‘Sickeningly vicious’
“This is a sickeningly vicious shooting and beating which has left this man with serious and potentially life-changing injuries, and a young girl severely traumatised,” said Det Chief Insp White.
“How is this poor child going to sleep tonight or in coming nights?
“It’s quite obvious the hypocrites who carried out this dreadful attack don’t care at all about the children in their community.
“There is absolutely no justification for an attack like this in our communities and we must all work together to bring those responsible to justice and to stop this from happening to another child.”
