I've lost everything, says Romanian wrongly arrested for Ballymena attempted rape
A Romanian in Ballymena has claimed he has 'lost everything' after he was wrongly arrested for the attempted rape of a schoolgirl.
He spoke after riots broke out in the Northern Ireland town following the appearance in court of two 14-year-old boys charged with attempted rape and who required a Romanian interpreter.
The father-of-two, named Alex, wrote on social media how his home and car were attacked by anti-immigrant rioters while he was in custody, according to the MailOnline.
The 28-year-old also said rioters returned to the property even after he was freed from custody without charge.
Alex said he and his wife had been forced into hiding, while his mother had taken his two daughters to Romania out of fear for their safety in Ballymena.
In a Facebook post translated from Romanian, the father wrote: 'I have lost everything because of false accusations.
'I lost my house where I lived, my car, all my belongings.
'But the biggest regret is that I lost the chance to offer my children a better future. And all this without having done anything wrong.'
The Romanian national went on to say: 'My family and I are not guilty, we all came for a better life, no one wants problems, we are modest people, people who fear God.'
Houses have been set alight and bricks, fireworks and petrol bombs have been thrown during scenes of disorder in Ballymena over recent days.
Residents previously told The Telegraph of long-running tensions with the Roma community – which came to a head following the boys' court appearance.
The scenes have been so frightening to some residents, non-Roma immigrants have resorted to putting up signs confirming their nationality, such as 'Filipino lives here'.
Meanwhile, others even displayed the King's Coronation memorabilia and crockery featuring Queen Elizabeth II, in a bid to deter thugs hunting for migrants.
On Thursday, three teenagers were charged with riot in relation to the disorder, with the youngest, 15, also charged with criminal damage.
In total, 15 people have been arrested and 41 police officers injured during the unrest, which was sparked by the alleged sexual assault of the girl.
In his Facebook post, Alex, who is also active on TikTok, also apologised if he had offended anyone in Northern Ireland with 'boastful' posts he had published on the social media platform.
In one TikTok reel that emerged after riots began in Ballymena he was shown blowing kisses to the camera before waving a giant wodge of cash outside the town's courthouse following an unrelated matter involving a family member.
Critics claimed it was then shared by one of his relatives who made provocative comments.
In another social media message, after his Audi was attacked, Alex wrote in Romanian: 'Plenty more fish [in the sea]' over a picture of the smashed-up luxury vehicle on his drive.
He wrote: 'I admit I am 'boastful'. That is my character and I apologise if I upset anyone. It was not my intention.'
In a statement that did not name the man, the Police Service of Northern Ireland said: 'A 28-year-old man was arrested on Monday June 9.
'He has been unconditionally released from police custody following questioning.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Nigel Farage warns riots will sweep Britain due to decades-long failure to control immigration - after fifth night of unrest in Northern Ireland
Nigel Farage has warned Britain is on the brink of civil unrest amid growing fury over immigration – claiming the country has become a 'pressure cooker' thanks to decades of government failure. The Reform UK leader said he is 'deeply worried' that scenes like those seen in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, and Southport could erupt in towns and cities across the country if ministers continue to ignore public concerns about mass immigration and integration. The stark warning follows a fifth night of violence in Ballymena, where tensions exploded after the arrest of two Romanian teenagers accused of attempted rape. What started as a protest quickly escalated into disturbing scenes of rioting, with police forced to deploy in large numbers. Mr Farage did not defend the violence but blamed long-standing tensions in some communities where new arrivals have allegedly struggled – or refused – to integrate. 'Nobody condones setting fire to houses and hunting down foreigners,' he told the Sun. 'But there was a population of people, the Roma people, that were put into Ballymena who cannot possibly integrate with the locals and have a completely different set of standards of life beliefs.' He warned that immigration without integration inevitably leads to conflict: 'The truth of it is that immigration only works if you have integration with it. If you don't, you have a divide. 'And where human beings are divided, history teaches us, you get conflict. I am very, very deeply worried about what's happening.' Downing Street has condemned the violence, with a spokesman for Sir Keir Starmer saying the Prime Minister 'utterly condemns the ongoing violence' and supports efforts by local police to restore order and protect residents. The unrest in Northern Ireland comes against the backdrop of record-breaking illegal immigration figures, with Home Office data showing 14,812 migrants arrived via small boats in the first five months of this year – a figure not reached until July in 2024. On one day alone – May 31 – 1,194 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats, smashing the previous daily record of 825 earlier in the same month. Mr Farage, whose Reform party has pledged to deport 'every illegal immigrant' in Britain, insists the current approach is unsustainable – but admitted the challenge is steep. His comments come after crowds of masked thugs gathered in Portadown last night on the fifth night of violence in Northern Ireland. Huge clouds of smoke were seen in the area where a protest had been held earlier in the evening before it descended into carnage. Officers in riot gear rushed to the scene while hooded thugs were seen hauling a huge branch across a road towards a line of police vans. The 'significant and sustained attack' demanded the need of more officers, PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said, emphasising that 'destroying and vandalising local communities do not make our towns safer for women and girls and to claim otherwise is nonsense'. The violence that was livestreamed on TikTok came only hours after a senior PSNI officer said cops are actively investigating 'those posting hate on social media', according to the Belfast Telegraph. An 'unprecedented' number of people no longer feel safe in their homes, Northern Ireland's Housing Executive chief added.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Austria plans tougher gun laws after mass shooting at school
June 14 (Reuters) - The Austrian government plans to tighten national gun laws after enduring its worst school shooting, Chancellor Christian Stocker said in an interview broadcast on Saturday. Speaking to ORF radio, Stocker said officials aimed to set stricter eligibility rules for possession and purchase of arms after a 21-year-old Austrian man on Tuesday shot dead ten people at a high school in the city of Graz before killing himself. The planned measures would look at things such as age requirements and how to treat certain weapons, Stocker said in an excerpt of an interview due to air later in the day. The cabinet plans to agree the measures on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the chancellor's office said. The proposals include enhancing psychological expertise in schools, increasing police presence there, improving data exchange between authorities and tightening restrictions for individuals deemed to be a risk, newspaper Kronen Zeitung said. The spokesperson confirmed the details. Police described the shooter as an introvert and avid player of online shooting games who had largely withdrawn from the outside world before he planned the attack. Authorities have yet to establish what moved him to carry out the shooting.
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
KGB defector turned to Britain only after US rejected him several times, book reveals
One of the most consequential Russian defectors in history was turned away several times by the US before he was eventually accepted by Britain and exfiltrated with his family from Russia, according to revelations in a new book. Vasili Mitrokhin, a KGB archivist who spent years copying top-secret documents on some of the most sensitive Soviet spies and operations, was brought out of Russia in 1992 by MI6. His archive of copied documents was exfiltrated separately. But London got hold of his trove only after Mitrokhin gave up trying to get the US to take him seriously. 'The CIA turned Mitrokhin away multiple times, sometimes due to decisions of those on the ground and sometimes due to instructions from headquarters,' said Gordon Corera, a former BBC correspondent who has written a new book about the defector. 'This would be the source of bitter recriminations later when his value became clear.' Mitrokhin's findings formed the basis for hundreds of counterintelligence investigations across the world during the 1990s. His defection was made public in 1999, when a book about his findings was published jointly with the historian Christopher Andrew. Mitrokhin lived under a new identity in Britain, and died in 2004. The 1999 book mentioned in passing that Mitrokhin had first offered his services to the US, but it transpires that there was more than one attempt, and Mitrokhin was furious the Americans had turned him down, making it clear to them later that Britain had been his second choice. Mitrokhin, an introvert who was sent to work in the KGB archives after a failed career as a spy, was motivated by a sense of disgust at the KGB and its role in the Soviet system and made it a condition of his defection that the documents he had copied should be made public. Many of his original files were opened to the public at an archive in Cambridge in 2014, although some of them have now been closed again due to privacy concerns. His notes contained the names of hundreds of agents in the west who had collaborated with the KGB. In Britain, the name that got the most attention was Melita Norwood, who was 87 when the Mitrokhin revelations were published. She admitted passing information about the British nuclear programme to the KGB. There was also detailed historical information about the 'illegals', Moscow's most secret spies who lived under deep cover disguised as westerners. Mitrokhin retired from the KGB in 1984, but it was only after the Soviet collapse, in 1992, that he decided to offer up his secret archive to western intelligence services. He travelled, disguised as a dishevelled villager so as not to attract attention from border guards, with a sample of his documents hidden below lengths of sausage in a scruffy bag. The disguise was so good that when he arrived as a 'walk-in' at the newly opened US embassies in Riga and Vilnius, he was not taken seriously. On one occasion, a cable about him was sent back to CIA headquarters, but was not acted on. Instead, he tried the British embassy, and a young diplomat in Vilnius offered him a cup of tea and suggested he return later, when MI6 officers could be sent out to assess his credibility. When that happened, MI6 realised that the strange walk-in was sitting on a potential goldmine. In a strange twist, the Treasury refused to pay the substantial costs for his exfiltration and resettlement, and so MI6 asked the Americans, who ended up footing the bill for the defector they had originally turned down, in exchange for full access to his material. During a meeting in London with an FBI and CIA team, introduced to Mitrokhin by their British counterparts, the defector erupted in anger. 'It is your fault that because you turned me down I am here with the British … I always wanted to be in the US,' he said. Corera said he did not ask for or receive any help from MI6 in his research for the book, though it is understood that he was able to speak to former operatives who were involved in the Mitrokhin case. For the first time, he reveals the details of how Mitrokhin was exfiltrated from the Soviet Union with his family by MI6 operatives using a tourist minibus as a disguise. Corera said he was drawn to the story of Mitrokhin because he had the feeling that in 1999 the importance of Mitrokhin's disclosures was somewhat lost, given the sense that the cold war was over and the west had little to fear from Moscow's spying. 'I think he is one of the most under appreciated spies and defectors in cold war and post cold war history. It's only now in hindsight more than 25 years after news of his defection becomes public you can see how important he was,' he said. The Spy in the Archive: How one man tried to kill the KGB by Gordon Corera, is published by William Collins
