A TYRONE councillor claims that "republican elements" are intent on conducting a campaign of intimidation after his car was attacked for the second time in as many months.
Four tyres on the vehicle belonging to DUP representative Sammy Brush were slashed during the attack outside his house in Ballygawley shortly after 3am on Monday.
But Cllr Brush insisted he would not be forced from the house where he and his family have lived for almost 40 years.
Earlier this year over £1,250 worth of damage was caused to his car while there have been numerous other attacks on his property over the last 14 months.
The former UDR soldier was seriously injured during an IRA gun attack in Ballygawley in 1981 and he said the intimidation had intensified since two men were arrested and charged with the shooting in March, 2007.
"It is too much of a coincidence for this not to be linked," Mr Brush said. "There have been periodic attacks over the past 15 years or so but things have intensified since last March when those two men were arrested.
"Soon afterwards, I had my car windscreen smashed with a concrete block and last June a window was broken in the kitchen at the back of my house. Then a few weeks ago the both sides of my car were scratched with a nail and over £1,250 worth of damage was caused.
"There have been other incidents of damage and the car has been scraped, the wing mirrors have been broken off and its sides have been kicked in. It has put my insurance way up and it's been a disaster for my finances.
"I just wonder what type of people are responsible and I think you need to be as depraved as they are to understand what they are trying to achieve and what logic is behind it all.
"You also have to ask what type of community turns a blind eye to these attacks because no-one ever sees anything.
"There is a sickness in our society and to me the people who see and don't speak out are guilty by association."
Cllr Brush believes he knows who is responsible for the attacks and said they would not force him to leave the house where he has lived for almost 40 years.
"There is no doubt that a republican element is behind these attacks," he continued. "I am probably the only Protestant living in this neighbourhood and some people seem intent on forcing me to leave my home.
"It is getting more and more difficult to remain here but why should I move out? I am not guilty of anything and I don't see why an innocent person should be forced out.
"Doing so would only be an incentive for those responsible to target others. It is not going to be easy but I am determined that these people will not succeed."
Cllr Brush was an Ulster Unionist representative on Dungannon council from 1981 to 1993 but left the party after opposing the Good Friday Agreement. He was re-elected as a DUP candidate at the last local government elections.
He served in the security forces for 37 years and was lucky to survive the attempt on his life in 1981. The bullet cut the nerves going through his right hand and narrowly missed his spine.
Cllr Brush escaped after returning fire and injuring one of the gunmen, and was later awarded the British Empire Medal. Later he said that he had thought about the attack every day since.
Last year, independent republican Assembly candidate Gerry McGeough was arrested as he left an election count centre at Omagh along with Vincent McAnespie, the husband of a Sinn Féin councillor in Monaghan.
Mr McGeough (47) and Mr McAnespie (45), from Aughnacloy, both deny the attempted murder charges.
