Mother tells of shooting horror

Mrs Green surveys the bullet holes in the glass

A mother has described how she and her baby daughter narrowly missed being shot in an attack on a house in south Belfast.

Jennifer Green was visiting her parents with her 19-month-old child, Jennie-Leigh, when the shooting occurred at about 2230 BST on Saturday.

They had been watching television when five shots were fired through the living room window of the house at Castlerobin Road in the Belvoir estate.

The large hole left by one of the bullets

Mrs Green and her parents were unhurt in the incident but the child was slightly injured by flying glass.

The young woman, who is from the Shankill Road in west Belfast, said the bullets passed within inches of their heads.

"We thought the child was dead," she said.

"We ran up the stairs. We thought she had been shot. What sort of men are they, shooting at a girl and a wee baby?

"Will they go back and say they are big, hard men? There's nothing hard about them, nothing at all. They are cowards, that's all they are."

Mother and baby: "These men are cowards"

The home owner has claimed that police visited him 90 minutes before the incident to tell him they were aware of a threat against him.

Police investigating a motive say the shooting was not sectarian.

Detectives at Castlereagh are appealing for anyone with information about the shooting, or who saw anything suspicious, to contact them on 90650222.