Girl (16) shot outside home

A TEENAGE girl was last night recovering from surgery in hospital after she was shot in the leg, stomach and side outside her home in Waterford city on Monday night.

Bridget Delaney (16) was shot as she tried to close the gates at the entrance to the Bilberry halting site at about 10.35pm on Monday, according to family members yesterday. The girl was rushed to Waterford Regional Hospital where she underwent life-saving surgery.

Gardaí cordoned off the area pending a technical examination. No firearm was recovered and no arrests have been made. The incident is thought to be related to an ongoing dispute in the city.

A car thought to have been used in the attack was found burned out in the Gracedieu area following the shooting.

The girl's mother, Bridget Delaney snr, said yesterday: "These people are cowardly people. They're not men, they're only rats. I thought she was going to die. I genuinely thought my child was dead."

The injured girl's brother Michael (21) yesterday said it could not have been mistaken identity because of the strong lighting at the halting site entrance.

The incident comes less than a month after Jason Stokes (14) was shot in the torso as he helped his mother at his front door in Ardmore Park, Ballybeg.

"I was here last night and a fella drove in about quarter past nine, half nine," said Mrs Delaney. "He was looking for one of the boys. But we took no heed of who he was - he just went back out," said the mother-of-seven. At about 10.35pm, a man in "a white Adidas tracksuit with a bag in his hand" walked up to the entrance, it emerged yesterday.

"I said to me daughter Bridget; 'Bridget, come in quick' and the next thing he shot at me daughter . . . there was three or four of them. She was hurted and roaring . . . and when I went out, me child was thrown on the ground. I roared for me family to get up; the whole lot of them came out to me," she said.

Michael Delaney added: "The child was going to close the gate. A man told her to 'stand still' . . . and he shot her. I pulled her into my van and he sped off . . . now we're all in bits. There's a feud going on in this town, but we've got nothing to do with it. Everyone in this town is in fear of their lives."

"There should be justice," Mrs Delaney said. "There was petrol bombs thrown in before and we got over that . . . something has to be done: I want protection. This place is condemned - there's only one way in and one way out."

Gardaí­ in Waterford are also investigating a ramming incident involving four cars that took place on the Cork road just after 12.30am yesterday.

The ongoing dispute is understood to have started on July 12th last during a bout of bare-knuckle boxing at the Six Cross Road.

It has led to numerous arson attacks and shootings at various locations in the city. More than 20 men have so far appeared in court charged in connection with the feud, which involves several Waterford-based Traveller families.

Anyone with information about the shooting should contact the Garda in Waterford.