A young single mother and health worker was on a night shift at a local care facility when her Co Antrim home was attacked in the early hours of Wednesday.
Police are treating the attack on the home of Leilani Molina as a “racially motivated hate crime” after the front window was smashed and a brick thrown at a car parked outside, seriously damaging the windscreen.,
Ms Molina, originally from the Philippines, shares the house in the Erskine Park area of Ballyclare with her eight-year-old daughter and another female occupant. She described being shocked and a little scared following the attack.
Her daughter on Wednesday was staying with a friend as her mother does not want her to see the damage done to the house.
She was shocked at the damage after returning from work around 8am on Wednesday. The other female occupant was asleep when the window was smashed and windscreen damaged. Her daughter was not in the house.
In a statement, the PSNi said: “Our enquiries into this incident, which we are treating as a racially motivated hate crime, are ongoing. We are also aware of racist graffiti being sprayed on a wall in the area.”
The incident happened against a background of unrest and violence in Belfast, with the homes and businesses of immigrants targeted.
Ms Molina on Wednesday said she had lived quietly since moving into the private rented accommodation in the mainly loyalist estate in February. She reported no previous issues and says she gets on well with her neighbours.
She looks after a number of people who live in the area as part of her domiciliary care work, which she does as well as caring for mostly developmentally challenged clients at the nearby nursing home.
Ms Molina was still shaking early Wednesday as she spoke and questioned why she was targeted.
“I come here to help and support and work in a health care facility,” she said, adding she was “shocked” and does not know “why they are doing it like this”.
However, Ms Molina did mention a possible reason above and beyond any racial motivation, her erection of a small paper sign asking people not to leave dog faeces in the grassy area to the front of her house. That sign was torn down during Wednesday’s attack.
She has signed a year-long agreement and wants to remain at the property at least till the end of her lease next February/March.
