By Lisa Ramsden
FOR the third time in less than a month poultry houses, between Kilcoo and Cabra, have been subjected to an arson attack.
The buildings, at a site off the Letalian Road, were discovered alight in the early hours of Sunday.
This incident comes after two fires were discovered within 48 hours of one another in the middle of October.
In the first of these, a large number of chickens were killed, and such was the scale of the blaze that firefighters from as far away as Lisburn responded.
The already extensively damaged premises were empty at the time of the subsequent fires.
The latest in this spate of attacks has been condemned by a member of the owner’s family.
Kate Grant took to Facebook to post an image of herself looking visibly distressed, alongside a second photograph of the burnt sheds.
Confirming that they were empty at the time of the latest incident, Kate, a model with Down’s syndrome, and who is also well known for her services to the disability community, added that police have obtained CCTV footage from the site.
Outlining details, Kate explained: ‘For the third time, someone has burnt my family farm’s two hen houses in a month.
‘I’m so, so upset. Thank goodness the hens were gone. I can’t cope with this.’
Her post concluded with Kate asking people to share her message and ‘hopefully catch these horrible people.’
Her appeal came a matter of hours after firefighters from Newcastle and Rathfriland were called to already badly damaged buildings around 2.40am on Sunday.
The conditions meant that personnel had to use breathing equipment as they worked to extinguish the flames.
The incident concluded just before 5.15am, with a spokeswoman for the NI Fire and Rescue Service later confirming that “the cause of the fire is believed to have been deliberate ignition”.
Police have confirmed an investigation is ongoing and that officers are trying “to determine a motive and who was involved”.
A PSNI spokeswoman said anyone with information about any of the fires should speak with police if they have not already done so.
“The report is being treated as arson. This is the third recent attack of a similar nature on the property – extensive damage has been caused on each occasion,” she said.
“Enquiries are ongoing to determine a motive and who was involved.
“Anyone with information about what happened is asked to contact police on 101, quoting reference number 430 10/11/24.”
She added that information can be forwarded anonymously, by calling Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
Ms Grant’s social media post prompted hundreds of reactions, with one of her followers commenting: ‘So sorry that someone is being incredibly cruel to you and your family. I hope the authorities find them and that there is justice served.’
Another wrote: ‘This is disgusting. I ask myself ‘how do people sleep at night?’ I’m so sorry this has happened to your family.’