Single mum's fears after car targeted in overnight paint attack
Noreen Sheikh believes she could have been singled out after displaying anti-war posters in the windows of her Heaton home
by Sophie Doughty · ChronicleLiveA single-mum is today living in fear after her car was covered in red paint outside her home.
Vandals targeted Noreen Sheikh's white VW Golf as she slept overnight on Saturday. The mum-of-two was woken the following morning by a neighbour who spotted the damage. Noreen believes she was singled-out because she has been displaying posters calling for an end to fighting in Gaza after conflict erupted in the region a year ago.
And after police confirmed they were treating the incident as a "hate crime", Noreen has told the Chronicle how she and her children had been left terrified in their own home.
The 44-year-old said: "I'm absolutely gutted. I have taken the posters down. I have two daughters and they are now scared. If the car wasn't there it could have been the house. It's just me and my girls here, so it does make you feel vulnerable."
Noreen was at her home in Newton Road, in Heaton, Newcastle, with her two daughters when the vandals struck. After being told what had happened she looked outside to see her car covered in paint.
"I woke up to it on Sunday morning," she explained. "I was in bed and the doorbell was ringing at 7.50am. The neighbours said 'Noreen look at your car'."
Noreen, who is mum to daughters aged 12 and 14, immediately reported the incident to police and then spent hours scrubbing the paint from her car. She told the Chronicle that she has displayed anti-war posters since the start of the conflict to show support for those affected.
And full-time carer Noreen, who has family in Palestine, never imagined her display would lead to her being targeted.
"In my window since October last year I have always had 'stop the war' in Gaza posters'. Everything is peaceful. There's nothing anti-Israel," she said. "At first I didn't put it down to this. I have never played the race card and I have never had to in Newcastle, it's such a friendly city. But people said 'it's because you have those posters in the window'. But why can't I show my support?
"I have got no enemies. I'm born and brought up in Newcastle and the neighbourhood is quite friendly."
A spokesman for Northumbria Police confirmed the vandalism was being treated as a hate crime.
He said: "We received a report of criminal damage which is reported to have taken place on Newton Road in the Heaton area of Newcastle between just after midnight on Sunday morning and 8am the same day. It was reported that paint was thrown over a vehicle by an offender who then made off. Officers have carried out enquiries in relation to the incident and are treating the report as a hate crime."
Anyone with information is asked to contact Northumbria Police quoting ref number 118122A/24.
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