THE RUC is investigating a petrol bomb attack on the home of an elderly Catholic couple in Derry early yesterday. A senior fire officer said the woman, who was in the house at the time, was lucky to be alive. The attack took place on a housing estate in the mainly Protestant Waterside area.
The RUC said it was treating the attack as sectarian.
Mrs Anne Coyle was reading in bed when a petrol bomb was thrown through a downstairs window of her home at Shearwater Way. Her husband, Raymond, who was out at the time, collapsed when he returned to see his home on fire.
"I thought Anne was still in bed and I tried to get into the house. Neighbours, however, shouted to me that she was with them" said Mr Coyle, who was later treated in hospital.
"Whoever did this were scum and their intention was to hurt people in the house," he said. "The petrol bomb landed on the settee that Anne always sits on. If she had been there at the time, she would never have survived."
Mrs Coyle said she and her husband would not be forced out of their home. "We've lived here for over 20 years," she said "We have great neighbours, both Catholic and Protestant, and they have all rallied around us."
"When I heard the sound of glass breaking, I looked out of my bedroom window and saw flames shooting up the wall of the house. I ran next door to my sister and phoned the fire brigade. I don't understand why this has happened to us. I want to know why. I want to know what we have done to deserve this."
Mr Willie Lynch, a senior fire officer, said he doubted that anyone sitting on the settee when the petrol bomb struck would have survived.
"Fortunately the settee is made of flame resistant material, which ensured that the fire burnt out."