The RUC has begun a murder inquiry after a man died and another man was injured in a stabbing incident in west Belfast early yesterday. Mr Kevin Francis Taylor (23), from Suilnamona Court, in Andersonstown, died after a group of men forced their way into a house in Lisvarna Heights in the Lower Falls.
Mr Taylor was staying there after a night out with friends. Six men burst into the house at around 3 a.m. A fight is understood to have taken place, during which Mr Taylor was stabbed. The stabbing is believed to be connected with a row in a social club earlier.
Meanwhile, the RUC in Larne, Co Antrim, is investigating an assault on two women in their early 20s and a baby at their home in Sallagh Park South in the town centre early yesterday.
Two men, wearing balaclavas and wielding baseball bats, forced their way into the house at around 3 a.m. The eightmonth-old baby, Tamlin Burke, was lying asleep in bed between her mother, Jacqueline, and her aunt, Tammy. The men assaulted the two women and the infant. The baby was taken to the Ulster Hospital where she underwent microsurgery on her hand. Her family said she could lose a finger.
Her mother suffered a fractured skull and is described as stable in Antrim Hospital. Her aunt, Tammy, who is in the early stages of pregnancy, was treated for arm injuries and a head wound. She was released from hospital yesterday.