Heavily-pregnant woman forced out of home with 'nowhere to go' after hate crime (2025)

The woman, who is expected to give birth in five weeks, was taking her dog out for a walk when she opened her front door to see her car had been spray painted and her tyres slashed

A heavily-pregnant woman has been forced out of her home with nowhere to go after becoming the victim of a sick "hate crime". The woman, who asked not to be named, moved into a house in the Suffolk area of west Belfast little more than a week ago.

On Friday morning, she opened her front door to see her car had been spray painted with the words "get out" and the tyres slashed. The terrifying discovery caused the woman major distress as she is due to give birth in just five weeks.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) confirmed the incident is being treated as a sectarian hate crime. The woman, who is Catholic and had concerns about moving into the predominantly Protestant area, told BelfastLive how she discovered her vandalised car.

She said: "I actually had my little sister staying with me and I was up early. I was bringing the dog out to the grass in the morning to let him go to the toilet at about 8:45. And I walked out the front door and that was just on the car."

The woman, whose family is not from Belfast, had already been finding it difficult being far away from her support network.

Fighting through tears, the pregnant woman said: "We literally got everything out of the house and there and then. I, I have no family up here."

She said she spent all her money getting work done to the house after being "hesitant" about accepting a home in the area initially.

"From the very start, I was hesitant about even taking [the house she was offered in] the area," she said. "In this day and age you're waiting ages to be housed so I thought I'll maybe ask to see if, you know, maybe it's worth taking. I did actually ask around. My partner was told it's OK for me to take the house, to move in. This was not even 2 weeks ago. I was literally only in the place about a week and a half."

She continued: "My partner, when he was there to help me move in, was asked are you Catholic or Protestant? They just asked him straight up, and he had just said 'Protestant' when he was put on the spot. You know, we're not gonna blast it everywhere [that they are Catholic], we're gonna be respectful and just go in and out and keep our heads down. Then, like two or three days later, that's when that happened to the car."

Asked where she can go in the meantime, the young woman said: "Literally nowhere."

She said after leaving the property in Suffolk, she stayed at her partner's mum's house, which is a three bedroom property already occupied by multiple people - including her partner's brother who has special needs.

"We can't throw his mother out of her bed, of course not," she said. "I literally just slept on the sofa and, you know, obviously we're grateful for anything at the minute, but I mean we can't bring a baby in here, we haven't even got a room."

With the knowledge the baby could arrive at any minute, the sectarian hate crime victim said: "I'm just trying to, you know, stay positive. The last thing I need is to go into early labour."

She added: "I used every bit of money that I had just to be able to get that place painted, with flooring done. Like, they watched me bringing the painter, getting all the flooring in, and as soon as all that got done - they waited until all the work was done - and then they put me out on Thursday morning. I've spent everything I had."

She is now being given assistance in finding another home by Sinn Fein MP Paul Maskey, who described her treatment as "sickening" and "absolutely disgraceful".

A spokesperson for the PSNI said: "Police received a report of criminal damage to a car in the Tildarg Avenue area of west Belfast on Friday, April 18. It was reported that sometime overnight, the vehicle had been spray-painted and two tyres were slashed."

The spokesperson added: "Anyone who was in the area at the time and saw anything, or who may have CCTV or other video footage, is asked to contact police on 101, quoting reference 344 of 18/4/25. Alternatively, you can submit a report online using the non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/."

For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.