Girl (13) in critical condition after machete attack in Fermanagh

Police are treating as attempted murder a machete attack on a home in Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh which left a 13-year-year-old girl in a critical condition in hospital.

A number of men armed with machetes arrived at and broke into the house at Trasna Way in Lisnaskea at about 9.15 pm on Saturday.

PSNI Det Sgt Keith Monaghan said the gang attacked the girl and an older woman.

“A 13-year-old girl sustained serious stab wounds as a result and was taken to hospital where she remains in a critical but stable condition,” he said.

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“A 41-year-old woman was also treated for stab wounds to her leg but has since been discharged from hospital. A baby was also present at the scene but was thankfully unharmed.”

Det Sgt Monaghan said the incident “must have been a terrifying ordeal for those involved” and that the force was determined to find the men responsible.

“We have several lines of enquiry which we are progressing at this time but I would ask anyone with information or who noticed any suspicious activity in the area to contact detectives in Enniskillen and pass that information on,” the officer added.

A relative of the girl said she was a hero and was stabbed protecting her 11-month-old nephew.

“The baby was unharmed because his auntie is a hero,” she told BBC Northern Ireland.

“She is 13-years-old and she threw her whole self over that baby, and she saved his life. She is a hero,” she said.

‘Horrendous’

Fermanagh Sinn Féin councillor Sheamus Greene said the attack was “horrendous”. He offered his sympathy to the family and said he hoped the teenager would recover from her injuries.

Local SDLP councillor Garbhan McPhillips said people were shocked by brutality of the attack.

“I am angry that something like this could happen. For anybody to break into a house and stab anybody, never mind a 13-year-old girl, is horrific. I don’t what would be going through their heads that they would do something like that. It is unbelievable, to be honest,” he said.

“My thoughts are with the family and please God the girl makes a full recovery. It was an awful ordeal they went through.”

Alliance Fermanagh representative Matthew Beaumont said whoever carried out an attack needs to be caught quickly and to to face justice.

“This attack in Lisnaskea, carried out by men carrying machetes, is to be condemned in the strongest possible terms,” he said. “This must have been a terrifying experience for [the two victims].”