Published Monday, 10 August 2009
A gang smashed their way into the family home in Greenisland in the early hours of Saturday morning.
They beat Jason Ballard with iron bars, as his mother, sister, and brothers watched.
He is now in a stable condition at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital.
Mother Sharon Ballard has said it was a ruthless attack.
"You more or less don't know what is going on - you're just trying to protect your family, as the glass comes in all around you," she said.
"There was blood all over the place and I was screaming 'there's a 3 month old baby here', but they just did not care, they would have killed that wee baby."
Jason's 9-year-old brother Jake also witnessed the brutal assault.
"I was very frightened, I heard banging and I heard my brother shouting. I didn't know what to do."
A spokesman for the UDA's East Antrim Brigade has denied the family's claim that their organization was behind the attack.