This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/6657507.stm
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Attack on partner of gun accused | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| The partner of a man on remand for allegedly stealing jewellery worth almost £250,000, has been injured in a shooting at her Belfast home. | |
| Martine Benson, 32, suffered facial cuts after a shotgun blast was fired through a window of her Poleglass home. | |
| Three other women were not hurt. A letter containing a threat was put through the letterbox. | |
| Martine and her sister Seaneen's partners are on remand awaiting trial for kidnap and possession of a gun. | |
| The charges against Patrick Watson, 34, follow a failed robbery in Belfast last December when some £230,000 worth of jewellery was allegedly taken from a firm on the Boucher Road, before police swooped. | |
| Ms Benson had gone to switch off a light when a single shot shattered theproperty on Good Shepherd Court. | |
| "It blew my living room to pieces," she said. | |
| "I've got cuts and bruises all over my body, and the smoke was everywhere. | |
| Martine Benson sustained facial cuts from showering glass | |
| "It was aimed at myself; I'm lucky I'm not dead. | |
| "This is affecting my life, and my nerves." | |
| Ms Benson said the letter contained a threat urging both her and her sister's partners to withdraw statements. | |
| She spoke to her partner in jail on Tuesday, hours after the attack. | |
| She said he was adamant that he had not made any statements. | |
| Ms Benson's four children are understood to have been staying with relatives whenthe shooting happened. | |
| Detectives are seeking a motive for the attack but are not treating it as sectarian or paramilitary. | |
| They have appealed for information. |