Fork-lift truck driven into house

The house was badly damaged in the attack

A fork-lift truck has been deliberately driven into a house in the Ballymurphy area of west Belfast.

The house in Whitecliffe Parade was badly damaged during the incident which happened at about 0630 BST on Friday.

The house, which has also been attacked in the past, had been unoccupied for some time and there were no injuries in the incident.

The fork-lift truck had earlier been stolen in the Whiterock Road area of west Belfast.

Charlotte Burns, whose mother Edith Notorantonio, owns the house, said: "I got a phone call about eight o'clock saying that there was a JCB through my mummy's house. It's a bit unreal."

She said her mother was just out of hospital.

"She has leukaemia and she's a broken pelvis - she's actually in a wheelchair at the minute," she said.

"I think this would be too traumatic to bring her up (to see)."

The family has said although the house has to be knocked down for safety reasons, they are determined to rebuild it.