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Brick attack 'third within hours' Brick attack 'third within hours'
(about 1 hour later)
A taxi driver is in a stable condition in hospital after a brick was thrown at his car windscreen in County Down. A County Down taxi driver is facing reconstructive surgery after a brick was thrown through his car window.
Jackie Anderson, from Newtownards, was driving along the Portaferry Road on Saturday when it is thought people in another car threw a brick.Jackie Anderson, from Newtownards, was driving along the Portaferry Road on Saturday when it is thought people in another car threw a brick.
It smashed the windscreen and he suffered bad head and facial injuries. He suffered severe head and facial injuries, but is said to be stable.It was the third incident within hours.
It was the third such incident within hours. A car behind the taxi was also hit with a brick there was a similar attack on a woman driver on the road. A family, which escaped injury in a similar attack a short time later, found Mr Anderson semi-conscious.
The woman escaped injury more than an hour earlier when a group of youths threw a bottle at the car she was driving about two miles outside Portaferry. Dermot Gilmore was travelling home from the Odyssey in Belfast with his wife and his two young sons when a brick hit his bonnet and windscreen.
Assembly member Kieran McCarthy said Saturday was not the first time attacks like this have happened in the area. "We were meeting a car in the opposite direction and the next thing my windscreen came in, shattered. My wife said: 'That was a brick'," he said.
He said the latest incident was a "murderous attack on a completely innocent motorist". Mr Anderson was driving his taxi at the time of the attack
A PSNI spokesperson said her windscreen was shattered and she was very shaken by the incident. "Just around the corner then, I saw the taxi sitting. I could see that he had also got a brick through his windscreen.
"We stopped to see what had happened. It was shocking. His face was smashed, there was blood everywhere. He was just about conscious."
Stephen Griffin, a friend of Mr Anderson, said the taxi driver was going to have a CT scan later to determine the extent of his injuries.
"The brick just went straight through, it hasn't bounced off the screen, so it must have been thrown at some force," he said.
Windscreen shattered
Assembly member Kieran McCarthy said the latest incident was a "murderous attack on a completely innocent motorist".
There was a similar attack on a woman driving on the road more than an hour earlier.
A group of youths threw a bottle at her car about two miles outside Portaferry. Her windscreen was shattered but she escaped injury.
Six drivers in the Ards Peninsula area had objects thrown at their cars on 11 January. All escaped injury.
Detectives have appealed for anyone with information about the attacks to contact them.Detectives have appealed for anyone with information about the attacks to contact them.