Kneecapped

Growing up on the "Monagh By Pass" in the 90s & post GFA

One of my core memories was sitting in the hallway with my sister and friend, we were playing with our new stationary & books, getting ready for starting back to primary school after the summer holidays.

As we sat there organising our new school bags we heard a loud bang which sounded so loud as though it were right outside. Loud gunshots being fired. My ma jumped up from the sofa in the living room and told us not to go outside, she then locked the front door (our protector). I remember my heart racing and wondering wtf just happened.

Soon after that we heard sirens and my ma unlocked the front door and we went out to have a look and seen someone in the opposite cul-de-sac being put into the back on an ambulance, he’d just been kneecapped we were brought back inside, put to bed like nothing had happened and carried on as normal the next day, starting back to the first day of the new school year.

Kneecapping was a paramilitary style punishment which was popular in the 90s and 2000s in West Belfast and you would’ve heard of people getting kneecapped all the time. Or else you’d see joyriders suddenly walking around in crutches with bandaged up knees and realise they’d been kneecapped.

Joyriders were referred to as “hoods”

I grew up in an estate on the Monagh by pass which was notorious for joy-riding, in my younger years when my da still lived with us, he worked as a taxi driver and the hoods drove into the back of him when he was working one night, he was hospitalised for 6 weeks and almost lost his life. Hearing the hoods out on the Monagh By Pass was normal for me growing up but it was scary almost losing my da to joyriders.

My ma obviously didn’t want me anywhere near the hoods in my estate but sometimes it was inevitable as they’d be in the street drinking during the day and they were always really friendly to us as kids .

I remember one time in broad daylight a stolen car came flying into the street, one of the back wheels of the car had completely come off and I remember it scratching along the concrete ground and sparks flying from it. The hood that was in the car got out and was limping while he ran away down “the hill” which is a wee path that leads to the exit of the estate on foot. I remember he had a can of beer in his hand as he was running away with his limp. The peelers soon followed him & I’m not sure if he got caught.

Of course people in the area complained but it really was seen as the norm at the time, we had just came out of “The Troubles” and the Good Friday agreement had been signed, an agreement that would strive to end violence in the North of Ireland and while guns were put down, what was promised was far from delivered.

We were promised - prospects, jobs, housing, the RUC rebranded as the “PSNI” - a supposed police force for all but we only have to look at the PSNI’s statistics to know that they are still working within a system that keeps working class people from republican areas oppressed.

Funding for youth services, for mental health services for young people in the working class areas of Belfast are stretched severely thin. There may have been a point in my life where I was influenced by neoliberal politics and blamed the people from working class areas for the anti social behaviour that was happening but as i’ve got older, experienced more and educated myself more, I am very much aware of the systems in place to keep us oppressed, to keep our young people oppressed with no prospects & ever increasing suicide rates.

And somehow, our leaders cut youth funding by £16 million (April 2026),(youth action source), a collapsing healthcare system, our “leaders” convince themselves that they are deserving of a £14,000 pay increase, Pat Sheehan (multi property landlord) in particular spoke in an interview of how he deserves a £14,000 pay increase because his office is subjected to attacks. Recently a man burned himself to death in the royal Victoria hospital while he waited for 30+ hours to speak to a doctor about his mental health.

Our politicians simply do not deserve a £14,000 pay increase while people are dying, more people have died by suicide post troubles compared to the total lives lost for the duration of the troubles which is extremely worrying because what is being done about it?

This is why I will never look down on young people who are literally fighting to survive, they are turning to “anti-social” behaviour because there is nothing else to do and I won’t blame the parents, I fully blame the people on top of the hill and I think its time they got the finger out and actually invested in our youth and deliver on their Good Friday agreement promises.