Family blame IRA for attack

The man was dragged from his Ballymurphy home

The family of a west Belfast teenager whose finger was cut off in a paramilitary-style attack have blamed the IRA.

The man is the cousin of Joe O'Connor, a member of the dissident republican Real IRA, who was murdered in the same area of Ballymurphy last year.

The Real IRA splinter group opposes the IRA and Sinn Fein's strategy in the Northern Ireland peace process and there is bitter rivalry between the two groups.

Francisco Notarantonio, 17, was with his girlfriend and their baby at home on the Ballymurphy Road when a masked gang forced their way into the house on Wednesday night.

Michaela McGuigan: "They fired shots and took him away"

His girlfriend Michaela McGuigan said: "We heard two shots fired outside the door.

"The door was booted in and three big guys ran in.

"They shouted 'Provisional IRA', and kicked my child's pram out of the way, while he was in it, to get at Francie."

The gang took Francisco Notarantonio to an alley off the Whiterock Road.

Francisco Notarantonio was assaulted by gang in alley

They then beat him with claw hammers, breaking bones in his hands and one of his ankles. They also cut off one of his fingers.

His mother, Rose Notarantonio blamed the IRA for the attack.

She said: "The rats and vermin that did my son have done all the off-licences over Christmas and all the building sites. The evidence is at their own front doors."

Reacting to the attack, Sinn Fein councillor Michael Browne said: "I wouldn't like to think that whole families were being singled out for intimidation.

"If that were the case it would be totally reprehensible."

Mr O'Connor's grandfather, Francisco Notarantonio, was shot dead by loyalists in a house on the same street almost 13 years ago.