British Irish RIGHTS WATCH

# BLOODY SUNDAY INQUIRY #
Week 22

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TOP 26 FEBRUARY - 1 MARCH 2001 TOP

This week, the Tribunal heard from civilians who witnessed events in the Rossville Flats car park.  Many of the witnesses had been watching from their own flats.  The Tribunal also heard evidence from William Smyth who took Teresa Bradley’s statement in 1972 (see BIRW report week 17 para 5).  Mrs Elizabeth Dunleavy gave an eyewitness account of the shooting of Alexander Nash.

For the first time since the Tribunal has been hearing evidence from civilians, one witness was asked questions about his criminal record.  This follows a decision by the Tribunal to ask the RUC for the criminal records of witnesses.

A full transcript of proceedings is available at http://www.bloody-sunday-inquiry.org.uk

1          NOEL DOHERTY’S EVIDENCE

1.1             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

1.1.1       Barrier 14

When Mr Doherty arrived, he saw some stewards and John Young already at barrier 14.  Mr Doherty said that the crowd decreased to about 25 or 30 young men after the water cannon had been used. There were also people in Chamberlain Street and at the east end of William Street.  He recalls a tin sheet being used as a shield.

Mr Doherty was one of the last to leave barrier 14.  When he ran down Chamberlain Street there were a few other people running down.  As he left barrier 14, as far as he could see, William Street appeared to be clear of people.

1.1.2            Rossville Flats car park

Mr Doherty saw soldiers at the corner of block 1.  He saw one soldier firing diagonally across the car park.

Mr Doherty ran towards the alley between block 2 and 3.  He could see two APCs and saw Jack Duddy fall to his right.  He could hear a lot of shooting.

Mr Doherty knelt next to Jack Duddy.  He looked towards block 1 and saw a soldier open fire.  He felt bullets whizzing past his head.  He ran to the shelter of the wall in front of block 2.  He saw two people being tended to behind the wall, one had been shot in the leg and the other had been shot in the side.  Mr Doherty tried to crawl along the wall.  He stood up, turned around and saw a soldier aiming.  He said that two shots hit the concrete wall between blocks 2 and 3.  Whilst he was in the car park, he had not noticed any missiles thrown from Block 1 and had not heard any pistol fire coming from either of the alleyways between the two blocks.

1.1.3       South of Rossville Flats

Mr Doherty ran through the gap between blocks 2 and 3.  He estimated that this happened within a matter of minutes of him first entering the Rossville Flats car park. 

When he got through the gap, he saw a body on the ground near the western gable of block 2.  He could see blood flooding out of the head of the body and people sheltering by the telephone box close to the body, shouted for him to take cover.

The shooting started again and Mr Doherty ran back towards Joseph Place alleyway and then to St Columbs Wells. 

He saw people being carried to Fahan Street and put into cars.  He recalls one of the injured people as being wounded in the hip.

1.2             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

1.2.1            NICRA statement

Mr Doherty did not make a statement in 1972 because he was scared of being charged with rioting.

1.2.2       Riots

Mr Doherty had been present at riots before Bloody Sunday.  He agreed that the riot at barrier 14 was no different to riots that had occurred on previous marches.

1.2.3       Barrier 14

Mr Doherty saw John Young pleading with the people at the barrier to go back at an early stage.  Mr Doherty was shown photographs of the scene around the barrier and agreed that Mr Young could be seen throwing stones.

Mr Doherty thinks that he was one of the last people at the barrier before the soldiers entered.  He was not aware of a crowd in Chamberlain Street when he ran down it.

1.2.4       Rossville Flats car park

Mr Doherty said that a soldier fired 5 or 6 shots diagonally across the courtyard and then fired again whilst he was tending to Jack Duddy.

He was only aware of one person falling.  He did not see Father Daly’s gunman.  He was not aware of any low velocity shots fired.

Mr Doherty said that he was surprised that the soldiers had gone as far as the Rossville Flats area because it was not their normal procedure.  The soldiers normally stopped at the Rossville Street corner.

         MARY BONNER’S EVIDENCE

Mary Bonner is the sister of Hugh Gilmore who was killed on Bloody Sunday.

2.1        QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

2.1.1       Rossville Flats car park

Mrs Bonner lived in block 2 of the Rossville Flats.  She looked out of the window overlooking the Rossville Flats car park and could see a crowd of people running down Chamberlain Street.

She heard bangs that sounded like rubber bullets and the sound of a helicopter.  She saw two APCs at the entrance of the car park.  She saw one soldier in a kneeling position.  He was aiming his rifle and fired from waist height.   She had seen him get out of the APC and heard shots from that area.

Mrs Bonner saw Jack Duddy running.  She said that he was one of the last people in the car park.  She heard a bang that seemed to come from the APC at the north end of block 1 and saw Mr Duddy fall on his face.

She saw a man, she now knows to be Michael Bridge, with his hands up.  She heard one shot and saw him clutch his hip.  Mrs Bonner could not tell which soldier had shot him.

2.1.2       South of the Rossville Flats

Mrs Bonner moved to her bedroom window, which overlooked the south side of the Flats.  She could see a group of people using a low wall near Joseph Place, which runs at a right angle from the retaining wall for shelter.  She saw one man slump forward.  She said that the group were facing the direction of Rossville Street.

Mrs Bonner agreed that the man she had seen slump forward was not Patrick Doherty because the first time she saw Mr Doherty was when he was lying on his back.

2.2  QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

2.2.1            Rossville Flats car park

Mrs Bonner remembers APCs coming up Rossville Street, very fast.  She noticed two APCs that had already arrived.  She saw a soldier get out of an APC and shoot once.  She does not know whether he fired the further two shots that she heard but the shots came from the same direction.

Mrs Bonner did not see Father Daly’s gunman.  She heard a conversation about him, subsequently.

2.2.2       NICRA statement

Mrs Bonner does not recall making a joint statement with her brother and mother.  She agreed that she was distressed after her brother was killed.  Her mother lived in a flat near to her own. In his statement to the BSI, her brother, Bernard Gilmore said that he saw the civilian gunman.  Mrs Bonner said that she had gone between her own and her mother’s flat.  She was not at her mother’s flat all the time.

3                    CATHLEEN O’DONNELL’S EVIDENCE

3.1             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

3.1.1       Rossville Street

Mrs O’Donnell was walking northwards along Rossville Street, towards William Street.  All of a sudden, people near Kells Walk shouted to her to go back.  A crowd was running south down Rossville Street.  Someone shouted ‘they’re shooting live rounds.’  The people, who had been moving northwards, turned and ran south.  Mrs O’Donnell ran into block 1 of the Rossville Flats.

3.1.2       Rossville Flats car park

Mrs O’Donnell ran up the stairs of block 1 and made her way into block 2.  When she reached the top walkway of block 2 someone stopped her and told her to lie down because of the shooting.  Mrs O’Donnell could see soldiers running across the waste ground.  She could see people running towards the gaps between the blocks of the Rossville Flats.  She could see an APC on Pilots Row.

Mrs O’Donnell saw two soldiers.  One was a black soldier who was holding his rifle from the waist and shooting up in the air.

She crawled to her home in block 3.  Her father opened the door and shouted at her to lie down.  She could not get inside the flat because there was too much shooting and she had to lie still.

Mrs O’Donnell saw a young boy running across the car park.  He looked around and continued to run.  His arms went up above his head and he fell.  Then all of a sudden she saw blood.  She had seen two soldiers, one kneeling and one standing.

3.1.3       Fahan Street East

Mrs O’Donnell said that her father threw her inside her house.  When she went to the window that looked onto Fahan Street East, he told her to come away from the window.  He later told her that there was shooting from the City Walls.

3.2             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

3.2.1       Rossville Street

Mrs O’Donnell said that the shooting that she heard when she was on Rossville Street was not automatic fire.

4                    HUGH BRESLIN’S EVIDENCE

4.1             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

4.1.1       IRA

Mr Breslin said that he could not say that the IRA had been present on previous marches.  He had assumed that they might have been.

4.1.2       Barrier 14

When the soldiers came through barrier 14, Mr Breslin said that there were about 40 people rioting and about 40 people near Chamberlain Street.

4.1.3       Chamberlain Street and the Rossville Flats car park

Mr Breslin ran down Chamberlain Street.  He heard two high velocity shots which could have been fired from Eden Place.  He did not see any soldiers but he was facing southwards.

Mr Breslin turned left at the bottom of Chamberlain Street and hit a fence.  There were about 15 to 20 people running in the car park.  He saw a boy fall forwards.  Mr Breslin ran towards him.  There were already two people tending him.  Someone turned the boy over and Mr Breslin could see that it was Jack Duddy.   He could hear more high velocity shooting from behind.  He looked in a northerly direction and saw an APC rounding the corner at the northern part of the car park.

4.1.4       South of the Rossville Flats

Mr Breslin ran between the gap in block 1 and 2.  He reached the three-penny bits and saw two puffs of smoke and two bullets ricocheted on the ground.  He thinks that the bullets came from the City Walls. 

There was a lull in the shooting and Mr Breslin decided to run in a southwesterly direction.  He stood up and after taking 10 steps, he heard three more shots coming from somewhere in Rossville Street. He went back to the three-penny bits.

Mr Breslin met his younger brother at the north entrance of the Joseph Place alley.  He ran towards St Columbs Wells.

4.2             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

4.2.1       Joseph Place

Mr Breslin suggested his brother was mistaken in thinking that they met at the southern end of the Joseph Place alley.

4.2.2       IRA

Mr Breslin said that the mood had lightened when the word spread that the IRA would stay away from the march.  He said that he would have no idea who was in the IRA.

5                    ROBERT GALLAGHER’S EVIDENCE

5.1             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

5.1.1       Rossville Flats car park

Mr Gallagher was in block 3 of the Rossville Flats when he heard shooting.  He does not remember hearing rubber bullets mixed with the live rounds.  As he heard the shots, he could see some APCs and troops running behind them.  He did not see anyone shooting.

Mr Gallagher lay on the balcony of block 3.  He could see a group of 6 to 8 people running across the car park.  One of the group, a young boy, fell.  He saw Father Daly run out to the boy.  Mr Gallagher could not see any soldiers.  The shooting was continuous.  He cannot remember whether it was continuous when Jack Duddy fell.

Mr Gallagher saw Michael Bridge standing at the east gable wall of Chamberlain Street.  He thinks that Mr Bridge walked out into the middle of Chamberlain Street.  He saw him stumble back.

Mr Gallagher went to a friend’s house in block 1 of the flats.  His friend’s wife, Olive Doherty, told him that she had seen three people in the corner of Glenfada Park with their hands in the air when the soldiers shot them.

5.1.2       Incident in Mura Place

Mr Gallagher remembers seeing a blonde woman in Mura Place, Block 1 of the Rossville Flats, shouting ‘they did not shoot enough of them.’  The woman was arguing with and then hit a Knight of Malta.  Mr Gallagher is not sure when this took place.  He thinks that it may have been after all the shooting had taken place.

5.2             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

5.2.1       Rossville Flats car park

Mr Gallagher thinks that he heard shooting before he got inside Block 3 of the Rossville Flats.  It was seconds before he reached the balcony. 

He could not say whether the people he had seen running away from the APCs had been engaged in the rioting.

5.2.2       Riots

Mr Gallagher agreed that it was usual for riots to break out even on marches.

5.2.3       Citizens of Derry

Mr Breslin did not agree that people exaggerate when giving accounts of Bloody Sunday.  He said that the point he was trying to make was that if he had heard that someone had been shot he would wait to hear the news confirmed before repeating it to anyone else.

6                    PETER GALLAGHER’S EVIDENCE

6.1            QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

6.1.1       Barrier 14

Mr Gallagher said that he joined in with the small riot that was taking place at barrier 14.  He heard the sound of the APC engines.  Mr Gallagher moved down Chamberlain Street and said that there were a lot of people there.

He looked across into Eden Place and could see APCs driving down Rossville Street.  In his 1972 statement, he said that he had gone to High Street because he had not wanted to admit to having taken part in the riot.

6.1.2       Rossville Flats car park

Mr Gallagher ran down Chamberlain Street.  He heard the crack of a rifle and saw Jack Duddy spin around and fall.  He thinks that Mr Duddy must have come down Chamberlain Street because of the position he had reached in the car park. 

Mr Gallagher sheltered at the gable end of Chamberlain Street.  He said he had the impression that there was high velocity shooting all around. He could not say where the shooting was coming from.

Mr Gallagher said that there was a lot of shoving and pushing at the gable end, as people did not want to be pushed into the car park.  He saw a dark haired woman, Mrs Peggy Deery, and thinks that he pushed her out into the car park.  She fell to the ground and he realised that she was shot. 

Mr Gallagher then became aware of Michael Bridge shouting ‘you murdering bastards.’  He heard a high velocity shot from the waste ground and saw Michael Bridge fall.

Mr Gallagher said that he was very frightened and moved towards the east side of Chamberlain Street.  There were about 25 people with him.  He said that a black soldier fired three shots above his head.

He did not see Father Daly’s gunman.

Mr Gallagher saw a soldier on the north end of block 1 of the Rossville Flats.  The soldier was shooting from the hip at a car parked in the car park.  He could not say whether there was a gunman behind the car.  He could not pinpoint where the car was.

Mr Gallagher and others crawled along the low wall in front of the retaining wall.  Bullets hit the retaining wall above his head.

6.1.3       South of the Rossville Flats

Mr Gallagher went through the gap between blocks 2 and 3 of the Rossville Flats.  He saw Patrick Doherty’s body.  He thinks that Mr Doherty had been one of the group that he had been crawling with.  Mr Gallagher said that Mr Doherty’s head was pointed towards Fahan Street East.

Mr Gallagher saw Barney McGuigan’s body and noticed an eyelid stuck to the northwest wall of block 2 of the flats.

6.2             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND THE WOUNDED

6.2.1       Peggy Deery

Mr Gallagher said that the woman he pushed into the car park was Mrs Deery.  He said that she was wearing a fur coat and fish net stockings.

6.2.2       Patrick Doherty

Mr Gallagher said that he had no doubt that the body he saw as he got through the gap between block 2 and 3 was Patrick Doherty.

6.3             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

6.3.1       Check point

Mr Gallagher was stopped and searched at a checkpoint in Derry earlier that day.  He thinks that the soldiers were paras because of the emblems on their uniforms.

6.3.2       Barrier 14

Mr Gallagher said that there had been about 100 people at the barrier.  He agreed that it could be considered a small riot.

6.3.3       Chamberlain Street

Mr Gallagher had seen soldiers on foot in Rossville Street.  He heard shooting in Rossville Street as he ran down Chamberlain Street.  His main priority was to get to the Rossville Flats as quickly as possible.

He did not see a civilian gunman and had not seen any shots fired from the gable end of Chamberlain Street.

6.3.4       Patrick Doherty

Mr Gallagher was told that the body he had seen as he came through the gap between blocks 2 and 3 was Patrick Doherty.  He said that the body was motionless.  He would not dispute that he could be wrong about the position that the body was in because he had been traumatised at the time.

7            DOLORES McFARLAND’S EVIDENCE

7.1            QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

7.1.1       Rossville Flats car park

Mrs McFarland was watching from her mother’s flat in block 3 of the Rossville Flats.

She thinks that it is possible that the APCs came into the Rossville Flats car park and may have reversed after the soldiers got out.  Mrs McFarland remembers seeing lots of soldiers running rather than crouching.  When the Army vehicles came in, everyone scattered.

She heard rubber bullets mixed with rifle shots.  She saw Jack Duddy fall and saw Father Daly go towards him.   The car park appeared to be empty and she saw Michael Bridge run out to Jack Duddy.  He was shouting and waving his arms and then she saw him grab his leg.  Mrs McFarland and the group she was with were so upset they started to bang on the window of the flat.  One of the soldiers shot up at them, hitting the concrete to the right of the window.

Mrs McFarland saw people around the stairwell of block 1 and the alley between blocks 1 and 2 of the Rossville Flats.  One soldier had a rubber bullet gun and fired a rubber bullet into the entrance of the flats.  Another soldier was hitting the people inside with his rifle. 

Mrs McFarland saw an APC parked on the north end of block 1.  She could see soldiers throwing bodies into the APCs, head first.  This was not noted in the statement she gave in 1972.  She said that when she gave her statement in 1972, she was trying to be brief and thinks that she may have forgotten to mention it.

7.2             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

7.2.1       Rossville Flats  car park

Mrs McFarland saw a soldier by the side of an APC.  Her brother, two sisters and a friend were inside her mother’s flat.

Mrs McFarland said that she could not remember exactly when she heard the rubber bullets.  At first she thought the soldiers were firing rubber bullets but realised they were live bullets when she saw Jack Duddy’s body turned over.  She is not sure whether she heard live or rubber bullets first.

Shooting started as soon as the soldiers got out of the vehicles.  Mrs McFarland said that she did not see which soldiers fired which shot.  The only soldier she saw shooting was one at the corner of Chamberlain Street who fired up at the window that she was looking out of.  She said that the soldiers did not seem to be hiding anywhere.

Mrs McFarland said that the soldier who fired at the window could see that there were young people there.  He took aim and narrowly missed them.  The shot damaged the side of the window.  Mrs McFarland said that she thought the soldier was trying to frighten them.  She had not mentioned this in her 1972 statement because she was in shock. 

Mrs McFarland saw bodies being thrown into an APC at the north end of block 1.

8                    ELIZABETH DUNLEAVY’S EVIDENCE

8.1             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

8.1.1       Rossville Flats car park

Mrs Dunleavy lived in block 1 of the Rossville Flats.  She saw crowds of people in the car park who were in a terrible state.  People were screaming and she could hear shooting which sounded very loud and was frightening.

Mrs Dunleavy saw soldiers at the back of Chamberlain Street.  They seemed to dwindle away.  She was aware of one soldier going down on his knees.  She saw soldiers beating a boy about the head and upper body area with some batons.  She saw a Knight of Malta being hit by a rubber bullet.

Mrs Dunleavy saw a soldier kneel on one knee, raise his gun and shoot a boy.  The boy twirled around as he fell and then fell out of her line of sight.  Mrs Dunleavy stepped out of her door towards the edge of the balcony.  The soldier raised his gun and pointed it at her.  She went back inside her flat.

8.1.2       Rossville Street and the rubble barricade

Mrs Dunleavy went to her bedroom window which overlooked Rossville Street.  She could see three bodies lying on top of the rubble barricade.  Their heads were towards Free Derry Corner.  The bodies were close together and seemed to be in the middle of the barricade.

Mrs Dunleavy saw an older man at the barricade.  He went down on his knees and put his hand up.  She thought the man was trying to tell the soldiers not to shoot, but he was shot. 

Mrs Dunleavy saw an APC drive to the barricade.  It came from the direction of William Street.  She saw the soldiers lift the bodies and throw them into the back of the APC.  Mrs Dunleavy walked away from her window because the scene was so horrific.

8.2             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND THE WOUNDED

8.2.1       Rossville Flats car park

Mrs Dunleavy backed away from the edge of the balcony to her front door.  She was scared to run because the soldier had pointed his gun to her and she thought she might get shot.

8.2.2       Rubble barricade

Mrs Dunleavy said that the older man who was at the rubble barricade was facing towards the soldiers when he was shot.

8.3             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

8.3.1       Shooting

Mrs Dunleavy thinks the reason the shots in the car park sounded different to earlier shooting was because she was so close to where Jack Duddy was shot.

9                    WILLIAM SMYTH’S EVIDENCE

William Smyth took Teresa Bradley’s statement in 1972.  In her evidence (see BIRW report week 17 para 5) she said that she had told him about seeing a civilian gunman at Kells Walk and seeing a car containing rifles but that he had not included it in her statement.

9.1             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

9.1.1       Statement taking in 1972

Mr Smyth said that he volunteered to take statements because he saw it as his duty to the community.  He cannot remember who had organised the statements to be taken.  He recalls one person explaining the way that the statements should be taken.

He asked the witness their name and then would ask them to proceed.  He would then write down what the witness said, verbatim.  He noted that Mrs Bradley’s statement, which was hand written by him was in quotation marks.

Mr Smyth said he had no personal or emotional reason for omitting any part of Mrs Bradley’s statement.  He said that he was apolitical.  He took the statement on the understanding that it would be used for some sort of inquiry. 

Mr Smyth took statements on one day.  He thinks that he may have taken at least five statements.  The BSI has three of the statements he took.

Mr Clarke asked Mr Smyth about Kevin McCallion’s evidence.  In his statement to the BSI, Mr McCallion said that he had seen 4 or 5 people on the march who were allegedly in the IRA.  This was not in his 1972 statement which Mr Smyth had taken.  Mr Smyth said that it was not his issue if someone decided to leave something out.  The procedure he followed for each witness was identical.

9.2             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND THE WOUNDED

9.2.1       Statement taking

Mr Smyth knew that the statements would be used for some form of public inquiry and had no other purpose in mind when he took statements. 

Mr Smyth followed the instructions that he had been given.  As far as he was aware, no legal advice was given or requested.  He was not aware of any warnings given to witnesses about giving evidence that they could be prosecuted for such as being involved in a riot.  He was given no instructions on how to answer a witness if they asked whether they could be prosecuted.

9.3             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF NICRA

9.3.1       Statement taking

Mr Smyth was not on the Bloody Sunday march.  He said that he has never been on any political marches in his life. 

The statement taking was organised within the educational establishment.  He thinks that it is possibly the local clergy who asked for statements to be taken.  The directions had come from the school authority and the headmaster.  Mr Smyth’s colleagues were also engaged in statement taking.

9.4             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

9.4.1       Statement taking

Mr Smyth was never told and still has no idea who organised the statement taking.  He did not know anything about NICRA.  He said that he was apolitical.

Mr Smyth said that on the day he took statements, he recalls writing statements continuously.  He said that he could not account for how others viewed the seriousness of the statement taking.

He said that he took the statements, sentence by sentence.  There was no re-arranging and no drafting.  He would not put the evidence into more formal words.  He said that the fact that the statements started with ‘I took part in the civil rights march,’ might have been an instruction from an overseer.

10               THOMAS WILSON’S EVIDENCE

Mr Wilson lived in the top floor of block 2 of the Rossville Flats.

10.1         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

10.1.1  Rossville Flats car park

Mr Wilson saw two APCs approaching.  One of the APCs skidded just to the north of the Rossville Flats.  He said that he saw soldiers taking up defensive positions, one on either side of the APC.  One soldier went down on one knee close to Block 1 of the Flats.

Mr Wilson said that the soldiers were not firing willy-nilly.  There was a soldier against the gable wall of Chamberlains Street.

He thinks that the first shots he heard fired sounded as if they came from Chamberlain Street.  He could not tell whether the shots were fired from Chamberlain Street or the waste ground.

He could see people running everywhere.  They were running because of the APCs.  He saw a man fall against the fence that ran along the southwest end of Chamberlain Street.  The man appeared to have slipped on ice.  The soldiers grabbed him and he was put into an APC.

Mr Wilson saw five or six bottles thrown from Block 1 of the Rossville Flats towards the APCs.  He thought that the bottles contained white paint.  Someone told him afterwards that the bottles contained acid.   One of the bottles hit an APC.  The soldier at the north end of block 1 pointed his rifle up towards the flat.  Mr Wilson heard a shot but said that it did not seem to have been fired by that soldier.  He saw a man, who looked like a photographer, on the veranda near to where the bottles had been thrown from, drop down.  Mr Wilson said that teenagers were throwing the bottles.  He described them as lads aged about 14 to 15 years old.  He saw them but could not tell who they were.

Mr Wilson saw more APCs and soldiers appearing from Rossville Street.  He got his children back inside his flat.  He could see soldiers lifting men and teenagers.

Mr Wilson is an ex-soldier and said that he thought the soldiers were behaving as if they were returning fire.  He could not see who the soldiers were firing at.  He said it was like a ‘Western’, the shots came towards the Rossville Flats from Chamberlain Street and across the waste ground.

Mr Wilson saw Father Daly go to Jack Duddy.  He said that the firing stopped fro a while and then became more intense.  He said that the shooting seemed to come from Rossville Street and the Fahan Street side.  He could see people positioned on the walls.

He saw Father Daly and the group carrying Jack Duddy along Chamberlain Street.  He could hear shots ricocheting along the walls in Chamberlain Street.

10.1.2  Civilian gunman

Mr Wilson saw a man hurried away from the eastern gable end of Chamberlain Street by three or four men.  He could not say whether the man had a gun.  The man was pulled away towards the alley between blocks 2 and 3.

He also saw a man on the west gable of Chamberlain Street who appeared to have a gun.    This man had his arm outstretched and his head seemed to be turned towards block 1.  He agreed that this could be the man known as Father Daly’s gunman.

10.1.3  South side of Rossville Flats

Mr  Wilson saw a man lying on his back on the south side of the Rossville Flats.  He thinks that he also saw another body near a tree but could not tell whether the man was wounded or crouching.

10.1.4 Empty cartridges

Mr Wilson saw a black soldier picking up empty cartridges.  He is not sure whether this was on Bloody Sunday or another occasion.

10.2         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES

10.2.1 Firing

Mr Wilson agreed that as an ex-soldier he was aware of the sounds of different types of weapons.  He said that he did not hear any automatic fire that afternoon.

Mr Wilson could not see who the soldiers were firing at.  He did not see anyone firing but he heard firing from several locations.  He thought that the firing was coming from Rossville Street, the Kells Walk and Chamberlain Street areas.  He assumed firing was coming from the direction of Fahan Street because of the location of the bodies he had seen on the south side of the Rossville Flats.  All the shooting he heard that afternoon was coming in towards the Rossville Flats car park.

10.2.2            Patrick Doherty

Mr Wilson’s 1972 statement refers to him seeing the body of Patrick Doherty.  He agreed that he did not know Mr Doherty and would not have referred to him by name when he gave the statement.   He  described the position of Mr Doherty’s body as similar to that which can be seen in the photographs.  Mr Wilson said that when he first saw Mr Doherty he was lying half on his side and half on his front.  He said that his clear recollection is that Mr Doherty’s head was pointing towards the direction of the Fahan Street steps.

10.2.3  Rossville Street car park

Mr Wilson cannot remember whether the soldiers started firing as soon as they got out of the APCs.  He recalls a man running to the fence and a soldier hitting the man.

He agreed that it was more likely than  not that he had seen the black soldier picking up empty cartridges on Bloody Sunday.

10.3         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

10.3.1 Firing

Mr Wilson agreed that a soldier would know if a shot was being fired in his direction and that when watching from the outside it was much more difficult to tell which direction shots were coming from.  He said that he had the impression that ‘one would fire and the other would return fire.’

The soldier who put his rifle up to the direction which the bottles were being thrown did not fire.

He saw a soldier taking cover at the north end of block 1.  He thought that the soldier was keeping an eye on the APC and what was going on around him.  He did not see the soldier fire.

10.3.2  Southside of Rossville Flats

Mr Wilson had described the man he had seen lying on the south side of the flats as either having grey hair or wearing a cap.  He does not recognise the photograph of Mr Doherty crawling along the retaining wall of block 2.

10.3.3            Civilian gunman

Mr Wilson said that there were three or four people who ushered a man from the east gable wall of Chamberlain Street.  He agreed that if the man had a gun then those people would know as they had dragged him away.

The man was taken away across block 3 of the Rossville Flats.

11               BRIAN JOHNSTONE’S EVIDENCE

11.1            QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

11.1.1            Rossville Flats car park

Mr Johnstone ran towards the gap in the wire fence that ran parallel to the back of Chamberlain Street.  He saw soldiers whacking people, trying to get through the gap with the butts of their rifles.  Mr Johnstone said that he picked up a drinks can and threw it at the soldiers so that he could get through the gap.  He managed to get past the soldiers.

Mr Johnstone ran into the car park and heard a short volley of shots from behind him.  He has a vague recollection that an APC overtook him.  He heard two or three shots and, out of the corner of his eye, saw Jack Duddy fall forward.  Mr Duddy was on his own.  Mr Johnstone went to Mr Duddy and raised his shoulder and saw a huge amount of blood on his chest.  He saw a pebble in Mr Duddy’s hand and thought that he had scooped it up as he fell.  A group gathered around Mr Duddy.  Mr Johnstone heard a second volley of shots and ran away.  He was not sure where the shots came from.  He made for the gap between Blocks 2 and 3.  The shots were coming from the Rossville Street direction.

11.1.2            Westland Street

Mr Johnstone made his way to St Columb’s Wells.  He said that people were milling around.  When he reached Westland Street, he was halfway up the hill when he heard shots.  He said that he thought the shots were low velocity and that it was token resistance from the IRA.

11.1.3            Official Sinn Fein and the Official IRA

Mr Johnstone thinks that he made a statement in the Official Sinn Fein office in Creggan Shops.  He said that the wrong terminology was used in his BSI statement, which referred to the office as the HQ of the Official IRA.  He said that he did not know anything about the Official IRA.  He does not know how he found out that statements were being taken.  His statement was very short because he was nervous about admitting that he had thrown a tin can at the soldiers. 

He gave a statement to the Widgery Inquiry but was not called to give evidence.

11.2         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND THE WOUNDED

11.2.1  Gap between blocks 2 and 3

Mr Johnstone took cover in the gap between blocks 2 and 3.  He said that his memory of this part of the afternoon is very hazy.  Mr Topolski suggested that Patrick Doherty may have passed through the gap at the same time that Mr Johnstone was taking cover.  He does not recall this and did not see Mr Doherty’s body at the south of block 2

11.3         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

11.3.1  Waste ground

Mr Johnstone said that he did not know whether the soldiers were picking people out for arrest as they came through the wire fence.  He did not mention the incident in his 1972 statement because he did not think it was serious compared with the other events of the day and he did not want the fact that he had thrown a tin can at the soldiers to be on record.

11.3.2            Rossville Flats car park

Mr Johnstone did not see anyone ushered into the gap between blocks 2 and 3.  He did not look back as he made his way to the gap.

11.3.3            Patrick Doherty

Mr Johnstone said that when he made his way towards Free Derry Corner from the gap between blocks 2 and 3, he did not notice any bodies on the ground.  He said that he thinks he would have noticed them if they had been there.  Mr Johnstone agreed that he probably made his escape before those on the south of the Rossville Flats were shot.

11.3.4 Sinn Fein and the Workers’ Party

Mr Johnstone said that he did not know if the Officials operated from a disused shop in Meenan Square.  He knew that the Provisionals operated from an office in Stanleys Walk.  He said their political representatives operated from these areas.

Mr Johnstone did not notice that his statement to the BSI said that he had given a statement to the Official IRA HQ.  He agreed that many emphasised the distinction between Sinn Fein and the IRA.

12               BILLY GILLESPIE’S EVIDENCE

Mr Gillespie is the first civilian witness that has had a record of criminal convictions produced whilst giving oral evidence.  He was asked about the nature of his conviction.  Lord Saville said that the record goes to the issue of the witness’s credibility.

12.1            QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

12.1.1            Rioting

Mr Gillespie described himself as a regular rioter.  He said that he lost about five years of his life with rioting.  He hated the police more than the Army.

12.1.2            Barrier 14

Mr Gillespie said that he was in the thick of the riot.  There was no petrol bombs, nail bombs or civilian gunmen.  If there had been then they would have been chased out.  He said that the stewards told them that it was to be a peaceful march.

He said that if the riot had lasted longer then petrol bombs would have come out.  Very few nail bombs were used in riots.  They were used to keep the police and army at bay and to inflict injuries.  Mr Gillespie’s favourite weapon was to catapult marbles or round, polished cobblestones because they would cause most damage to the people they hit.

He said that rubber bullets were fired from behind the barrier.  A snatch squad of about 30 soldiers came through Doherty’s Lane.  He was not conscious of any Army vehicles.

12.1.3            Chamberlain Street

Mr Gillespie said he saw a woman who had been shot at the bottom of Chamberlain Street and being taken into a house.  He learned later that the woman was Mrs Deery.  People were saying move back to give her air.  Lots of people had been running down Chamberlain Street and into the car park.

12.1.4            Rossville Flats car park

Mr Gillespie said that he picked up some stones ready to throw.  He saw a soldier at the top of block 1.  Mr Gillespie said that he was throwing stones with Mickey Bridge.  He threw stones at the soldier on the corner of block 1.  He does not recognise the photograph of Michael Bridge with an APC behind him.

Mr Gillespie said that he took shelter with Patsy McDaid behind the small wall that runs parallel with Block 3.  Patsy McDaid got to half way  towards the gap between blocks 2 and 3 and was shot.  Mr Gillespie took him down the steps.

12.1.5  Shots from the Bogside

Mr Gillespie said that he heard later in the day that there had been a man with a short at Free Derry Wall who had fired two or three shots up Rossville Street.  He said that he thought it would have been a member of the Official IRA because the Provisional IRA were not up and running at the time.

He said that he thought there would have been about 10 or 15 members of the Provisional IRA.

12.1.6            Sunday Times archive

There is a document in the Sunday Times archive that purports to be an account given by Mr Gillespie on April 6th 1972.  The account says that he saw a gunman on the fifth floor of the Rossville Flats with an M1 carbine.  The gunman fired seven shots and the soldiers returned three.  A newspaper article of the time states that this corresponds with Soldier O’s account.  Mr Gillespie has no recollection of this.  He said that he thinks he would remember having said something like that.

12.2         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND THE WOUNDED

12.2.1  Rossville Flats car park

Mr Gillespie said that there were between 10 to 15 people in the car park, throwing stones at the soldiers.  He said that he saw part of a red brick in Michael Bridge’s hand.  He did not know Mr Bridge well but he knew him to see.

He does not recognise the scene shown in photographs taken in the car park.  One photograph shows Michael Bridge moving away from the group around Jack Duddy.  The next photograph shows Michael Bridge standing on his own, with only an APC in the background.  Mr Gillespie could not see himself in the photographs.  He said that everything happened quickly.  He said that he was not confused or mistaken.

12.3         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

12.3.1  Rioting

Rioting was a serious business.  It was not enjoyable for the soldiers.  Both soldiers and police were seen as legitimate targets.  He described how he would make catapults.  He did not see any catapults on Bloody Sunday.

12.3.2  Barrier 14

The soldiers he saw coming through the barrier were principally armed with batons and rubber bullets. He agreed it was obvious that they were a snatch squad.  He expected them to chase him.  He did not see any of them make arrests.

12.3.3  Rossville Flats car park

He agreed that it must have been obvious to others that he and other people were throwing stones in the car park.  He said that Michael Bridge was angry and threw a brick.  He agreed that a brick can be seen on the ground in one of the photographs of the car park.  He said that he was throwing anything he could get his hands on.  He did not see anyone throw a nail bomb.  He did not see or hear any shooting in the car park.

12.3.4  Peter Taylor’s note

Peter Taylor’s notebook contains a record of the same information recorded in the newspaper article about Mr Gillespie seeing a gunman in the fifth floor of the Rossville Flats.  He said he has no recollection of this and cannot say whether his brother would have told the journalist about it.

12.4            CRIMINAL CONVICTION

The Tribunal rose for Mr Gillespie to be shown a document of his criminal conviction before he was called back to answer questions about it. 

He was convicted for three offences of robbery in March 1979.  Mr Gillespie had allowed his car to be used by members of the Official IRA. This sentence was suspended as it was accepted that he was not a member of the Official IRA.

12.4.1  Questions on behalf of the soldiers

Mr Gillespie agreed that he was a devout Christian.

13               PATRICK DOHERTY’S EVIDENCE

13.1         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

13.1.1  Rioting

Mr Doherty said that he had been involved in rioting before Bloody Sunday.  He had never seen the IRA shoot through rioters.  He said that he had heard the IRA shoot through rioters but this had never happened during riots he had been involved in before Bloody Sunday.

13.1.2  Barrier 12

Mr Doherty saw the soldiers moving barrier 12.  He left and went to a derelict building below Bradley’s pub.  He heard two APCs drive down Rossville Street.  One turned left onto the Pilot Row waste ground.  A soldier jumped out of the APC and before his feet hit the ground, fired a live shot up in the sky.

Mr Doherty went down Chamberlain Street and saw a man carrying Peggy Deery around the corner of the bottom of Chamberlain Street.

13.1.3            Rossville Flats car park

Mr Doherty reached the little wall in front of Block 3 of the Rossville Flats.  He said that there were a lot of people trying to get through the gaps.  Some of the people were facing towards the soldiers.  He saw a rubber bullet land in among the crowd and someone threw it back.  He did not see any soldiers at this stage.

Someone standing in between the walls with him said that there was a member of the Official IRA with a gun.  Mr Doherty could not see anyone with a gun.

He heard the sound of live rounds replacing the sound of rubber bullets.   Most of the crowd started running away out of the exits.

Mr Doherty saw Jack Duddy fall.  He said that at the time he fell, Mr Duddy was standing shouting at soldiers.  Almost as soon as he fell, two boys went to help him.  Michael Bridge started waving his hands and shouting hysterically.  He saw Mr Bridge swing around and then get shot in the leg.  Mr Doherty had not seen any soldiers.  As Mr Bridge was shot everyone behind the wall went down on their hunkers.  Everyone lay flat as they tried to hide.  He saw Jack Duddy carried away.

Mr Doherty got up and walked between Block 2 and 3.  He saw the body of Patrick Doherty between Joseph Place and Block 2 of the Rossville Flats.  There were two people with him and he saw a person, who he thought was a woman, praying into Mr Doherty’s ear.  He said that someone had taken Mr Doherty’s shoes off.

13.2            QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND THE WOUNDED

13.2.1  Sequence of events

Mr Doherty agreed that this one of the most traumatic events of his life and that it was difficult to be sure about the exact sequence of events.  He agreed that the conversation he heard about the Official IRA man with the short could have happened after Jack Duddy had been shot.

13.2.2  Jack Duddy and Michael Bridge

Mr Finnegan told Mr Doherty about the body of evidence and the forensic evidence which suggests that Mr Duddy was shot whilst running away.  He agreed that he might have confused the fact that Michael Bridge was facing the soldiers when he was shot with Jack Duddy.  He agreed that he had first got a clear view of Jack Duddy when he was lying on his back which might have led him to assume that Mr Duddy had been facing the soldiers when  he was shot.

At the time that Jack Duddy was shot, Mr Doherty was watching someone else and only had half an eye towards him.  There were still a significant number of people milling around

13.2.3  Patrick Doherty

Mr Doherty was with the group crawling along the retaining wall.  He said that everyone was lined along the wall in single file and then got down on their hunkers.  Mr Doherty was behind Patrick Doherty because he saw his body when he got through the gap between blocks 2 and 3.  He agreed that the fact that he had walked around and up to Mr Doherty’s body must indicate that there was no shooting into the gap between blocks 2 and 3.

13.2.4  Rioting

Mr Doherty was 16 years old and employed as a painter at the time of Bloody Sunday.  He agreed that rioting was a regular activity and that he would join in with the riots on the way home from work.  The riots would take place between 2 and 5pm.  His parents did not know he was involved.  He said that his motivation for rioting began with being harassed on a daily basis.  Soldiers would pelt him with battery cells on his way to work and they would hit him when they searched him.  The only way he could get his own back was to stone the soldiers.  After a while, it became enjoyable and eventually he would get a kick out of it.

13.3         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

13.3.1  Rioting

Mr Doherty meant that the rioting followed a time schedule when he said that it was ritualised.  The crowd would throw stones and the soldiers would shoot rubber bullets.  This would go onto about 5 or 6pm.  He said that there were imaginary lines along the Bogside that the Army would not cross.  He agreed there were occasions when gunmen would take advantage of a riot but said that this had not happened at riots that he was at before Bloody Sunday.  Mr Doherty started rioting in August 1971.

He would wear a handkerchief around his face to protect himself from the CS gas until he had got used to it.

13.3.2            Barrier 14

Mr Doherty recalls a water cannon being used before the stones were thrown.  He said that it was impossible to throw stones because everybody was packed in. If anyone had stones, they would have thrown two or three and that would have been it.

13.3.3  Rossville Flats car park

He did not see baton rounds fired from the back of the APCs.  He said that the only people who were throwing stones were in the waste ground.  He agreed that if there had been stones in the car park of the Rossville Flats, he would have thrown them.  He was shown the photographs of the scene around Jack Duddy and Michael Bridge and said that he would not have thought that stones were thrown at that stage in the car park.  He said that when he came through Chamberlain Street, everyone was still running and they were hysterical.

He did not see a soldier behind the back wall of Chamberlain Street fire.  Mr Doherty looked in all directions and popped his head around the corner.  He definitely did not see any civilian gunmen in this area.

13.3.4 1972 statement

Mr Doherty gave a statement in one of the Creggan shops.  He does not know who was organising the statement taking.

13.4         FURTHER QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRBUNAL

13.4.1            Rossville Flats car park

Mr Doherty said that when Michael Bridge was shot, people pulled back to the retaining wall and moved towards the gap between blocks 2 and 3.  Everybody stood up and brought out their handkerchiefs and waved them.  As Mr Doherty walked towards the gap, there was no shooting taking place.

14             CHRISTY LAVERY’S EVIDENCE

14.1         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

14.1.1  Barrier 14

Mr Lavery saw some stoning at barrier 14.  The Army used the water cannon and rubber bullets.  Then Mr Lavery saw someone get hold of the metal sheet from a shop in William Street and use it as a shield.  Mr Lavery got hit in the left cheek with a rubber bullet.  He moved back to the junction along William Street and Rossville Street.

14.1.2  Rossville Street and the waste ground

Mr Lavery saw two APCs parked in the waste ground at the back of Chamberlain Street.  He saw a soldier beating an elderly man with the butt of a rifle.  The soldier was holding the man against a wall.  Mr Lavery ran over to the soldier and grabbed at the soldier’s gas mask to try and rescue the man.  The soldier dropped his rifle.  Mr Lavery put his foot against the soldier’s chest and pulled at his gas mask.  The soldier pulled his mask back on his face.  Mr Lavery saw another soldier coming towards him from one of the APCs and he ran into the Rossville Flats car park.

14.1.3            Rossville Flats car park

Mr Lavery came abreast with Jack Duddy.  He did not hear a shot but saw Mr Duddy crumple and fall to the ground.  He said that Mr Duddy had a stone in his hand.  He felt for a pulse and was with Mr Duddy for a minute when he saw a Knight of Malta who was treating the elderly man near Chamberlain Street.  Mr Lavery went to the Knight of Malta and they both came back to Jack Duddy.  He moved away then towards the gap between blocks 1 and 2.

14.1.4  South of the Rossville Flats

Mr Lavery went to Joseph Place and saw a man being carried into a house.  He went to Lecky Road and then went into Mr McGurk’s house.  Dr McCabe was in the house and advised Mr Lavery to go to hospital because of the injury to his cheek which he suggested might be a depressed fracture.  Mr Lavery said that he did not go to the hospital because he thought he would be arrested for taking part in an illegal march.

14.2         QUESTION ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIER

14.2.1            Barrier 14

Mr Lavery was shot by a rubber bullet at the same time that the tin shield was being used.

14.2.2  Waste ground

Mr Lavery said that he had no idea who the elderly man was.  The soldier held onto his mask whilst Mr Lavery had his foot on his chest.  The soldier did nothing other than to hold on to his mask.

14.2.3  Rossville Flats car park

Mr Lavery thinks that he was the first person to reach Jack Duddy.  He said that Mr Duddy had a pebble in his hand which was the size of a golf ball.

14.2.4  1972  statement

Mr Lavery made a statement at a chemist shop in the Creggan.  He said that the interview was taped and believed that he was making his statement to the Civil Rights Association.  The first time that he saw the statement he gave in 1972 in written form was when the BSI sent it to him.

15               BERNARD DOHERTY’S EVIDENCE

15.1            QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

15.1.1            Rossville Flats car park

Mr Doherty saw soldiers getting out of an APC and ran past them into the car park.  He said that he noticed one of the stewards who he had seen in William Street.  He said the steward was holding a piece of brick and shouted ‘come on, let us get the bastards.’  Mr Doherty said that he learned later the steward was Mickey Bridge.  He said that he heard a shot ring out but did not see Mr Bridge fall.

15.1.2            Bogside Inn

Mr Doherty reached the Bogside Inn and saw a white, four-door car pull up.  He said that some boys jumped out of the car and one was a member of the Official IRA, known as ‘Friar Tuck.’  Mr Doherty said that ‘Friar Tuck’ was holding a rifle and that he had told him that he was a bit late as it was all over.  The men did not say anything to him but walked towards the direction of Rossville Street.

15.2         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND WOUNDED

15.2.1            Michael Bridge

Mr Doherty recalls Michael Bridge at the junction of William Street and Rossville Street, trying to shepherd the crowd onto Rossville Street.  The riot was in process at that stage.  He could hear rubber bullets and shouting on the right hand side of the road as he walked down William Street.  He did not get as far as Chamberlain Street.  

He had the impression the people in the car park were not taking cover when he reached there.  Other people had stopped running which is why he had stopped running.  He was doubled over, gasping for breath and glanced around.  It was on the basis of that glance that he identified Michael Bridge.  He had been shown a photograph of Michael Bridge when he was making a statement to Eversheds.

It was only when he got through the gap between Blocks 2 and 3 that he realised someone had been shot.  At no stage did he see the scene around Jack Duddy. He had not followed the person he had seen with a brick.

15.3         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

15.3.1  Rioting

Mr Doherty said that he probably did join in with the rioting.  He agreed that riots were regular occurrences and were referred to as ‘Saturday matinees.’

15.3.2 Waste ground

When Mr Doherty ran past the soldiers, they made no attempt to stop him.

The soldiers took up firing positions.  He agreed that he would not have run past them if they had been firing their guns.

15.3.3  ‘Friar Tuck’

Mr Doherty does not know where ‘Friar Tuck’ lived.

16             BRIAN WARD’S EVIDENCE

16.1         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

16.1.1  Marches

Mr Ward said that he attended most of the civil rights marches and none ended up in riots.  He said that riots would happen after the marchers had dispersed.  He said that the riots were usually egged on by the Police.

16.1.2  Shootings before Bloody Sunday

Mr Ward saw a shooting incident on the day before Bloody Sunday.  He had thought it occurred on Frederick Street but after being shown a Special Branch Assessment agreed that it could have been in Columbcille Court/Kells Walk.

16.1.3  Barrier 14

An RUC officer was shouting through a loudhailer for everyone to disperse.  Stones were thrown by the crowd.  Mr Ward said that he threw a stone which dislodged an RUC’s officer’s hat.  He thinks the water cannon was used next.  When the soldiers came through the barrier he thought that it was more than just a snatch squad.  The soldiers were armed with rifles.

16.1.4            Rossville Flats car park

Mr Ward saw people trying to get in the front door of Block 1 of the Rossville Flats.  He could see soldiers getting out of the APCs on Rossville Street.  He heard six or seven shots.  He did not see the soldiers fire.  He heard a shot and saw a boy fall.  He kept running.  There were 30 or 40 people behind the wall in front of block 2.  He put his head above the wall.  He saw 6 or 7 soldiers along the eastern side of Block 1, standing facing the crowd.  He recalls Michael Bridge coming out from the crowd crouching in front of Block 3 of the Rossville Flats.  He does not recognise the photographs of Michael Bridge in the car park.

16.2         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND THE WOUNDED

16.2.1  Michael Bridge

Mr Ward noticed Michael Bridge take two or three steps while shouting and then saw him shot in the leg.  He clearly recalls Mr Bridge standing up.

16.3         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

16.3.1 Riots and shooting

Mr Ward had never seen any firearms at riots before Bloody Sunday.

16.3.2 1972 statement

Mr Ward made his statement in an office which had been set up in Central Drive in the Creggan.  He said that in 1972 it was dangerous to say anything about rioting.  He kept his statement as short as possible.  He said that he had seen Jack Duddy who had been shot rather than actually saying he had seen him being shot.

16.3.3  Rossville Flats car park

He agreed that as soldiers got out, he heard the first live firing.  He was not aware of shots as he ran into the car park.  He did not see any bottles dropped onto soldiers.  He was crouching behind the wall and when he looked up he saw soldiers in position along Block 1.

Timetable of proceedings

Monday 26              para 1 to 4

Tuesday 27               para 5 to 9

Wednesday 28        para 10 to 12

Thursday 29             para 13 to 16 

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