A campaign of intimidation against a Polish couple in Newtownabbey where masked men smashed their windows has been condemned.
Jacek Sikorski and Marta Kilan said a group of around five men carried out the attack on their property and car with hammers around 8.30pm on Wednesday.
Speaking to the BBC, they said they had been traumatised by the incident and found it hard to sleep.
It is now the second attack on their home, with their living room windows and front door broken in February.
No one was at home at the time, but police were already treating that incident as a hate crime before Wednesday’s attack.
Ms Kilan said she thought her cat had smashed something downstairs, when she walked downstairs to discover two men holding hammers in her garden.
"I just saw this and I ran back upstairs because I was too afraid to go downstairs," she told the BBC.
"I didn't know what to do. I was shaking, I was crying.
"I was afraid and so angry."
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Looking back at CCTV footage, she saw the attackers had been wearing balaclavas.
As well as smashing the windows, front door and car windows, she said one of attackers smashed her Ring doorbell camera with a hammer.
"I feel really, really bad. I even say to my fiance I don't even want to go to work.
"I feel so bad, I don't feel safe here."
A Polish couple whose home was attacked by masked men in Newtownabbey on Wednesday have said they just want to live in peace@ItaDungan has been to meet them pic.twitter.com/5xAz74eyjK
— BBC Newsline (@bbcnewsline) August 5, 2023
Having lived in the property for five years and spending thousands to renovate it, Mr Sikorski thanked neighbours who helped them immediately afterwards.
"I cannot move out from here because I will lose everything," he said.
"We are devastated. I don't know generally what to do. I'm not even worried about me, I am worried about my partner, about my pets. I don't want to live in fear,” he said.
Addressing her attackers, Ms Kilan added: "Just leave me alone.
"I am not doing anything wrong. I am working, my partner is working.
"We just moved here to have a better life. I don't think it's a better life to have, every half year, someone is coming and smashing your window."
Commenting on the attack, Patrick Corrigan from Amnesty International said: “Balaclava-clad men smashing up the home and car of a young Polish couple. Who could possibly be behind it?
“Another day, another violent race hate crime in Northern Ireland. Time for (police) to get a grip.”
A PSNI spokesperson said: "There is no place for hate and we take reports of this nature incredibly seriously.
"It is the responsibility of each and every one of us to ensure that we live in a society where diversity is respected."
