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Thugs torture and beat blind brothers for £20

By Emily Moulton
Tuesday, 28 October 2008

Terrifying ordeal: Whiteabbey brothers Stephen (left) and George Sloan were attacked in the home for �20

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Two blind brothers who were attacked and robbed by spineless thugs in their County Antrim home last night told how they pleaded with the intruders not to hurt their guide dogs after being beaten with sticks for just £20.

Stephen (42) and George (38) Sloan were in the living room of their Glenville Parade home in Whiteabbey on Sunday night when two men forced their way into the house and demanded money at around 7.15pm.

The pair — who both have Retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary eye condition resulting in blindness — were not expecting any visitors and were surprised to hear a knock at the door.

Stephen told of the terrifying incident.

“I opened the door and they got in and started asking us for money and for our drugs. They then started beating us so we gave them what we had. It was not very much, the little money we had would have gotten us what we needed for the week. It was £20.”

Stephen said one of the men then went upstairs and ransacked the bedrooms before coming back down and threatening them.

“They told us not to phone the police or we would be killed,” he added. “The whole thing was so terrifying. We were so worried about the dogs, we begged them not to hurt them. We told them they were guide dogs.”

Stephen sustained several cuts and bruises to his face and body while George sustained a broken arm in the attack.

Both men were taken to hospital to be treated but have since returned home.

However, neither has felt safe following the ordeal and their sister Vera and other members from the family have stayed with them for the past few nights.

Their brother-in-law Malcolm Campbell hit out at the attackers describing them as “low”.

“Who could do that to them?,” he said last night. “Everyone knows who they are, they would see them up and down the village.

“It’s bad enough when something like this happens to a sighted person let alone when someone is blind. It’s low.

“It’s obvious they thought they were an easy touch.”

Former Newtownabbey Mayor Lynn Frazer condemned the attack describing the incident as “despicable”.

She said: “This was a despicable act. I simply cannot comprehend the sick mentality of the thugs who carried out this attack. People should be able to feel safe in their homes, free from fear of attacks like this.

“My thoughts are with the two brothers who must be devastated and deeply traumatised following this brutal act.

“Police will obviously be trying to piece together the circumstances and it would be horrific if this attack happened because these thugs thought they might be an easy target.

“Anyone who has information on this incident should contact police immediately. We need to get these thugs off the streets.”

Police said detectives in Newtownabbey are investigating the incident and have appealed for anyone with information about the attack to come forward.

The culprits are believed to be in their early 20s.

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25 Comments

If I was a thug I would be very happy with society as it is to-day. I would know that no matter how depraved my behaviour I could always depend on: a life of idleness and a regular income from the government to fund my drink and drugs habit - never be required to recompense the victims of my crimes - have my defence solicitors fees paid by the taxpayer no matter how many times I offend - always rely on a rediculously lenient sentence from the courts and then almost certain early release - hot food, comfortable living and entertainment whilst in prison, once again at the taxpayers expense - a chance to expand my sphere of contacts whilst "inside" - admiration from my mates when released with my new title of "ex-con" - but best of all the certain knowledge that no one in the establishment has the b***s to face me down and make me pay for my crimes.

Posted by Raymond Clements | 29.10.08, 14:47 GMT

Old,blind,disabled people and even children are being abused and until prisons get back to punishing instead of trainning camp the more people will respect the law. Put the judges on the front line and let the constables do the senticing and get a bit of commonsense back into justice.

Posted by J. Fish | 29.10.08, 08:56 GMT

this country is gonna end up like england, sex crimes up, attacks on pensioners more common, and now this! i don,t think a suspended sentence or a slap on the wrists is gonna deter the scum who carried out this attack.

Posted by duketyson | 28.10.08, 18:51 GMT

Hey BigDaddy. I hear ya man. Something needs to be done - and on a cross-community non-sectarian basis. I think almost everyone will agree with your comments?

Posted by BigDaddyFan | 28.10.08, 17:39 GMT

I'm glad we are living in relative peace now. Really I am. But when punishment beatings were being dished out to scumbags this type of thing was unheard of. Rapes were less common and drugs werent a huge problem. In general anti-social behaviour wasn't that common. Now it is a free-for-all. What is being done about this? Sooner or later people are going to start demanding that something is done and I'm afraid this may mean people are asking for direct action to be taken. Is this really the direction we are going? I'm very much in favour of human rights but only when the rights of others have been respected. Once you stop respecting others human rights you should lose yours automatically. Of course then there is the problem of innocent people being punished. I don't know what the answer is. What I do know is that this place is overrun with scumbags making life miserable for the rest of us - on ALL sides. What are we going to do?

Posted by BigDaddy | 28.10.08, 17:34 GMT

Attacks like this really does open your eyes to todays society

Posted by Jonathon Brand | 28.10.08, 17:27 GMT

How proud the mothers of those attackers must be!

I hope they burgle me - they will get more than the birch!

Posted by Centaur | 28.10.08, 15:15 GMT

Eagle eye is correct about the spelling and why do people use phone text laugage when corresponding in letter form?.

Earl. Canada.

Posted by Earl | 28.10.08, 14:43 GMT

I see these two about all the time. Very nice gentlemen, how anyone could even think about doing this is beyond me, and I truly hope the culprits get what's coming to them!

Posted by Michael | 28.10.08, 14:28 GMT

Absolutely disgraceful!

To attack two blind men, to a horrifying attack like this, is iniquitous to the extreme.

I hope that these fellow’s get “a real heroes welcome” when they are caught, and eventually sentenced (which they will be) to whatever jail his, or her Honor recommends.

Posted by Dekkard | 28.10.08, 14:23 GMT

shame on them.these guys need to be caught before they kill someone.hope the brothers get well soon.

Posted by jim | 28.10.08, 14:13 GMT

Mike O your right in wat you say cus b4 the ceasefire they would dare do anything like this cus they no the punishments they would have got, but wat do they get now nothing but a slap on the wrist

Posted by stevo | 28.10.08, 13:29 GMT

This is disgusting. Animals. Since the ceasefires this type of activity has rocketed. What is the solution?

Posted by Mike O | 28.10.08, 13:20 GMT

Get back to work 'Stevo'.

Posted by UmustBbored | 28.10.08, 13:09 GMT

it is a shocking story but i think its an important issue we need to get ot the bottom of, Eagle Eye what say you...

Posted by Stevo | 28.10.08, 12:19 GMT

Eagle Eye don't you have some work to do? I'm sure the image was reversed for design purposes. Who cares anyway? This is a shocking story.

Posted by Pea | 28.10.08, 11:36 GMT

eagle eye - what complete irrelevant drivel are you spouting on this article - does it matter!!

Posted by val | 28.10.08, 11:10 GMT

I'm so disgusted by this. Hope the guys get better soon and I'm glad the dogs weren't attacked, as whilst the guy's eyes may have been bruised, the dogs in reality are their 'eyes' and attacking the dogs would probably have left the dogs to frightened to do the job they do...

Posted by Gareth | 28.10.08, 10:30 GMT