Shot teen 'received death threats' - mum

Published Thursday, 14 February 2013
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The mother of an 18-year-old gun victim has spoken out about her son's shooting in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast, telling UTV that paramilitaries had previously issued death threats against him.

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Margaret McAleenan's son Padraig was shot at about 8.30pm on Tuesday and, since then, she's had to sit by his hospital bed and watch him fight for life.

He suffered gunshot wounds to the thigh and buttock and Margaret revealed that his pelvis has been damaged, his bladder perforated and that there has been bleeding in his stomach.

"It's going to be very bad for him because he's never been in hospital before, to wake up to something like that," she said.

Margaret is acutely aware that her son has been in trouble with the law, but she insists that it's not for anyone on the street to punish him.

"The courts dealt with him before and let the courts deal with him if he's doing anything now," she said, adding that he was lucky to have survived the shooting.

He's no saint, but that doesn't give anybody the right to take a gun to him.

Margaret McAleenan

But she doesn't believe that Padraig has been doing the things that he's been accused of by paramilitaries, who had warned him that they were planning to shoot him for drug dealing.

"He's a user, not a dealer," Margaret said.

"I've tried to explain that to the people that think he's selling drugs. He's not a dealer, he's a user - he has a problem which he's trying to seek help for."

While she admits her son had run-ins with paramilitaries, she added that he often doesn't go out of the house and that he doesn't have money to buy things, so she doesn't think he's dealing.

She's convinced those responsible for his shooting were trying to make an example of him by killing him and can't understand why police ever doubted paramilitaries were involved.

"With a gun involved, who else would it have been? There's nobody else would have done it," she said.

Police initially described the gun attack as having been paramilitary style, but then said that was no longer the case.

But in another turn-around on Thursday, a PSNI spokesman confirmed: "The incident is being treated once again as a suspected paramilitary style shooting, based on the information currently available to police."

© UTV News
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7 Comments
Onya in Belfast wrote (37 days ago):
Hi Margaret. I have been following the news to see what happened to your Son. I was there that night at the hospital when it happened. At the time I was on placement as a student nurse at A+E and was in the surgery room with him. I hope he is doing well. No one deserves that, and no one has the right to judge you as a parent!! Wishing Padraig the best and your family.
Margaret mcaleenan in belfasr wrote (49 days ago):
Lesley let's see how well uve done bringing up kids no human deserves that hope nothing like that ever happens til any ur family
Catch a grip in Wherever wrote (97 days ago):
The only honest interview i have seen in a long time...mum knows child no angel... Well done mum n i hope u n ur son get support from either each other or whoever u want or need it from. Xx. People in glass houses.....
Bobby McBride in Belfast wrote (98 days ago):
He sounds a rite piece of work!
Lesley in Belfast wrote (98 days ago):
Sounds like a real prince. It's about time parents started parenting their kids instead of letting them become troublemakers. The courts need to be tougher too, people would feel less aggrieved if young troublemakers were actually dealt with instead of being given community service orders. I know this wont be published but at least one other person is going to read it. If my son turned out like this I'd be ashamed at my failure as a parent. Instead he's a decent, hard working, high paid, contributor to society.
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