A man was being questioned by police today about a car theft in Northern Ireland during which a 16-month-old baby was hurled out of a moving vehicle.
The 22-year-old was detained by detectives investigating the sickening incident in a supermarket car park yesterday during which the baby's father was beaten and had part of his ear bitten off.
The father was beaten with wooden bats before the gang made off in his car with the sleeping baby in the back. As they sped from the car park in Lisburn, Co Antrim, they tossed the child out of the moving Ford Focus. Thankfully he was unhurt.
The baby's father was attacked and the car taken when he stopped to challenge men he spotted trying to steal another car.
Police revealed that another man had his car rammed by the escaping thieves when he tried to use it to block their way through the car park exit.
The stolen car was later found burned out in Poleglass on the western outskirts of Belfast.
Police have pledged to catch the entire gang involved in the incident. Chief Superintendent Ken Henning, the PSNI district commander for Lisburn said the had to be caught.
"That young baby could well have been hit by another car," he said. "People like this who are prepared to commit crimes like this have absolutely no thought, no regard for anybody, for anybody's safety."