The mother of a man injured by loyalists in a paramilitary-style shooting has condemned his attackers and says that the incident shows there is no peace in Northern Ireland.
"What peace? There is no peace. It's just sad that these things happen when there's supposed to be peace. Where is the peace?" asked Mrs Margaret McKinnell.
She was speaking yesterday at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, where her son, Earl (20), is receiving treatment for injuries sustained in the shooting in north Belfast.
Mrs McKinnell, a nurse, told reporters that her son was on a morphine drip. "He is in terrible pain. He has two fractures to his leg, shotgun wounds, and part of his leg is badly crushed inside."
She said that her son was innocent and should not have been attacked. "I know my son is innocent. He didn't deserve what he got. They should get their facts straight before they do this to someone."
Her son and two other men, aged 23 and 26, were taken to Ballyduff Quarry in Newtownabbey shortly after 11.30 p.m. on Sunday, where they were forced to line up before being shot in the legs.
The father of one of the other victims also criticised the paramilitaries. The man, who did not want to be named, said there was no justification for what had happened to his son.
"There is supposed to be peace here, but paramilitaries are still carrying out shootings and getting away with it. They know who they are, the people in the estates know who they are, and the police know who they are, and yet they can still get away with it. It's all just so wrong", he said.
Mr James Rooney, an Alliance councillor for Newtownabbey, said that the shootings underlined the urgent need for the decommissioning of all paramilitary weapons. "We thought this was all over with, but it has started happening again and it appears to be getting more frequent", he said. "There is no way this should be allowed to go on. It shows all the reasons why the paramilitaries should be decommissioning their weapons."
He added that he would like to see more police patrols to help prevent further attacks.
Security sources believe loyalists carried out the shootings.