THE Co Armagh woman targeted in a terrifying sectarian abuse at her home has told of how she has been left "traumatised and confused".
Danielle Skelton (21) says she is “constantly looking over my shoulder” and has been left her with no other option but to move out of her Lurgan home.
It comes after footage emerged last week of two men approaching the front door of her house in Ashleigh Crescent and shouting sectarian slurs including: “There’s Fenians in here".
The men can be seen hitting the door and an attempt is made to remove the doorbell.
Footage of the incident has been shared widely online, prompting condemnation from politicians and an outpouring of support for the woman.
Ms Skelton, who was in the house with her 18-month-old son at the time, has told of how she "did nothing to provoke this attack".
"I’m left traumatised and confused about why I had to leave," she told the Belfast Telegraph.
“I have put thousands into mine and my son’s home. I’m truly heartbroken.”
Ms Skelton said she had been lying on the sofa with her little boy on the night of the attack when she heard noises in the street outside.
She said she "thought it was a drunken crowd" and after she had put her son to bed she "started hearing banging on the door, which I thought was my tumble dryer".
“I then realised it wasn’t my tumble dryer, it was my front door," she said.
"As I saw it shaking, I ran into my room in shock and rang my mum.”
As her father made his way to the house, she also phoned the police, and said she feared for her and her son’s safety “terribly”.
The young mother said since the attack, her "anxiety has gotten worse, I’m constantly looking over my shoulder."
"I won’t let my son out of my sight as I didn’t even know these men," she added.
“I’m having difficulty getting over to sleep at night and staying asleep, as I’m having nightmares.
"I would have walked every single day out to my mum’s and wouldn’t have bothered with anybody at all.”
Two men aged 34 and 37 have been charged with attempted criminal damage and attempted theft over the incident, which a PSNI spokesperson said was being treated as "a sectarian hate crime."
The pair will appear before Craigavon Magistrates’ Court on May 31, and all charges will be reviewed by the Public Prosecution Service.
