|
|
17 - 20 SEPTEMBER 2001
This week, the Tribunal heard evidence from Sam Gillespie who photographed Michael Bridge in the Rossville Flats car park. Thomas Melaugh of the Derry branch of the Civil Rights Association (CRA) gave the names of members of the IRA who he had spoken to before Bloody Sunday.
James Kelly was at the gable end of Glenfada Park North when he saw Jim Wray and two other men run towards the southwest alleyway. Sean McDermott spoke about helping Hugh Gilmore after he had been shot. Geraldine McBride (nee Richmond) started to give evidence. She was running along Rossville Street with Hugh Gilmore when he was shot.
A full transcript of proceedings is available at http://www.bloody-sunday-inquiry.org.uk
1 ATTRACTA BRADLEY’S EVIDENCE (nee Simms)
Mrs Bradley was a volunteer with the Knights of Malta at the time of Bloody Sunday. She was also training to be a nurse at Altnagelvin Hospital.
1.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
1.1.1
Red Mickey
Mrs Bradley was attending to patients in Vinny Coyle’s house. She attended to a man called Mickey Doherty who had a gunshot wound high up his leg, near his backside. Mrs Bradley said the man was known as ‘Red Mickey’ because of his red hair. He did not want to go to Altnagelvin Hospital.
Mrs Bradley said that she never considered the reason that the man was called ‘Red Mickey’ was that he was linked to the Officials.
Mrs Bradley said that the injured people in Vinny Coyle’s house asked to be taken to Letterkenny Hospital. She said that, as far as she knows, none of them were taken to Letterkenny Hospital.
1.1.2 Barry
Liddy
Mrs Bradley also attended to a man who was bruised from head to toe. She was appalled at the extent of his injuries. He had bruises on most of his body and told her that he had been beaten up. Mrs Bradley said that she was told later that his name was Barry Liddy.
1.2
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS
1.2.1
Casualties and Knights of Malta
Mrs Bradley said that she carried on working until 6:00am on the morning after Bloody Sunday at St Mary’s school in the Creggan.
Mrs Bradley wrote a list of the dead and wounded on Bloody Sunday as she walked from the Bogside to the Creggan. She wrote their names and addresses as she was told the information. She worked as a nurse at Altnagelvin and said that it would have been automatic for her to write down names and addresses. She does not know who Eddie McLaughlin is.
Mrs Bradley said that she must have been suffering from shock at the sight of so many injured people because the only person she recognised in Vinny Coyle’s house was Dr McDermott.
Mrs Bradley said that the Knights of Malta did not expect people to be injured on the day. Leo Day wanted the ambulance out of the way in case people thought that they were expecting trouble. She said that it was normal to be on call in the ambulance at any event such as a football match or a concert.
Mrs Bradley said that it was not the case that there were recognised addresses that the injured could go to. When people were injured they went to the first available door.
Mr Peter Clarke suggested that there were times, in her work as a Knight of Malta, when she would be expected to turn a blind eye as to how a person had been injured. Mrs Bradley said that it was none of her business. She would treat everybody whatever creed or whatever they do.
1.2.2
Red Mickey
Mr Peter Clarke suggested that Mickey Doherty was a gunman who was shot by a soldier and who had fired a shot at a soldier in Barrack Street. Mrs Bradley said that she had never heard that.
2 SAM GILLESPIE’S EVIDENCE
Mr Gillespie was an amateur photographer. Amongst the photographs he took on Bloody Sunday was a picture of Mickey Bridge in the Rossville Flats car park.
2.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
2.1.1
Barrier 14
Mr Gillespie said that the breakaway group at the junction of Rossville Street and William Street had got beyond the stewards control. Stone throwing began and the soldiers responded. At 4:00pm the stoning began to decrease and the crowd began to retreat along Chamberlain Street. Mr Gillespie said that he thinks it was the soldiers in Harvey Street that caused the crowd to retreat.
Mr Gillespie stopped to take a photograph of a soldier in Harvey Street and heard a shot. He ran south down Chamberlain Street towards the Rossville Flats and heard more gunfire.
2.1.2
Rossville Flats car park
Mr Gillespie photographed the group around Jack Duddy’s body. He heard a voice shouting ‘shoot me you bastards – I am not armed either.’ The man was waving his arms about as though to indicate that he was not armed.
Mr Gillespie said that the photograph that shows Mr Bridge at the entrance of the car park was taken after Mr Bridge had been shot. He said that Mr Bridge seemed to turn as he was shot. He was turning away from whatever he was walking towards. Mr Gillespie had heard a shot and seen Mr Bridge grab his leg. His vision was tunnelled on Mr Bridge. He said that Mr Bridge did not fall but may have gone down on one knee.
Mr Gillespie said that the photograph of Michael Bridge was enlarged by the Sunday Times and there was nothing whatsoever in his hands.
There was more shooting and Mr Gillespie ran to the low wall in front of Block 2. He heard shots behind him.
2.1.3 Free
Derry Corner
Mr Gillespie ran down the back of Joseph Place and took the photograph that shows the crowd at Free Derry Corner crouching on the ground. He said that he could not be sure where the shooting was coming from but it seemed to be coming from behind and to his left (the bank or the walls).
2.1.4
Photographs
Mr Gillespie said that shortly after Bloody Sunday, he was approached by a man who he had reason to believe was a member of the Provisional IRA. The man asked him for the photographs that he had taken. Mr Gillespie refused to give them to him. Mr Gillespie wrote the man’s name down on a piece of paper for the Tribunal.
2.2
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND WOUNDED
2.2.1
Harvey Street/Chamberlain Street
Mr Gillespie did not see a camera crew in the area of Harvey Street when he stopped to photograph the soldiers.
When he ran down Chamberlain Street he heard a number of shots. He could not say whether they were single shots or automatic.
2.2.2
Michael Bridge
Mr Gillespie said that Mr Bridge’s hands were out and up from the time that he followed him.
2.3
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS
2.3.1
Harvey Street/Chamberlain Street
Mr Gillespie said that when he saw soldiers coming through the barrier they were in the open. The soldiers that he saw ‘hop-scotching’ (taking cover from doorway to doorway) were in Harvey Street. Mr Gillespie said that the soldiers who were ‘hop-scotching’ were a different group to the ones that had come through the barrier. Mr Glasgow suggested that Mr Gillespie was mistaken in thinking that it was Harvey Street. He said that a video shows the soldiers ‘hop-scotching’ in Chamberlain Street. Mr Gillespie said that it was Harvey Street because he remembers stopping to take a photograph.
2.3.2
Rossville Flats car park
Mr Gillespie saw Mr Bridge moving northwards to the entrance of the Rossville Flats car park. He agreed that the soldiers at the walls of the backyards of the Chamberlain Street houses were out of his view.
Mr Gillespie was not aware of anyone standing along the gable wall of Chamberlain Street. He said the sole purpose of him stopping in the car park was to see what happened to Mr Bridge after he heard him shouting to the soldiers to shoot him. He followed Mr Bridge on the viewfinder as he thought something would happen.
Mr Gillespie said that he clearly remembers Mr Bridge shouting that he was unarmed. In his 1972 statement he said that Mr Bridge shouted ‘shoot me.’ He said that this was the reason why the Sunday Times enlarged the photograph of Mr Bridge because he had said he was unarmed.
2.3.3
Provisional IRA
Mr Gillespie said that a number of people knew that he had taken photographs. The man did not say why he wanted the photographs. The man said words to the effect that he was trying to gather evidential photographs.
3 JAMES O’KANE’S EVIDENCE
3.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
3.1.1
Barrier 14
Mr O’Kane had been at Free Derry Corner when he heard a number of stewards telling other stewards that there had been trouble between youngsters and the army at barrier 14. The stewards were asking the other stewards to go and help them. Mr O’Kane and his friend went back up Rossville Street with them.
Mr O’Kane was at the barrier for 20 minutes when he was told that a youngster had been shot. There were still a dozen people at the barrier when he left and the soldiers had not come through.
3.1.2
Rossville Flats car park
Mr O’Kane saw Father Daly with a group of people. He then saw three APCs drive into Rossville Street. One drove straight at an old man. He saw one soldier jump out of the APC and hit the old man with a rifle on the back. The other two soldiers threw the old man into the APC.
Mr O’Kane saw a soldier firing his rifle in the air above the top of Block 2 of the Rossville Flats. The soldier fired 4 to 5 shots. The soldier shouted ‘keep the bastards head down – stop them from photographing.’ Mr O’Kane said that there were hundreds of cameras on the balcony where photographs were being taken. The flashes were coming from a balcony in block 2 of the flats.
It looked as if somebody was throwing wastepaper from the balcony where the photographs were being taken. He said that not a lot of material came down and it was not coming down hard.
Mr O’Kane said that a young man ran beside him and said ‘I am shot in the arm.’ He helped to carry the man over to the small wall.
3.2
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS
3.2.1
Barrier 14
Mr O’Kane said that he saw paras behind barrier 14 who were carrying shields. Mr Glasgow suggested that he was confused about which barrier he was at. He suggested that there were no soldiers with shields at barrier 14. Mr O’Kane said that he did not go to the other barrier. He agreed that it is possible that he saw CS gas coming up rather than gas canisters being fired.
3.2.2
Rossville Flats car park
Mr O’Kane said that he saw the body of Jack Duddy being carried up Chamberlain Street before the APCs arrived on the waste ground.
He believes he saw hundreds of flashing cameras on the balcony of the flats. It is the flashes that he remembers. At the time there was a lot of screaming and shouting from the balconies. The only firing that he saw was from the soldier who fired 4 to 5 shots in the air. The soldier fired at the same time that Mr O’Kane believed he saw the flashes.
4
LEO FRIEL’S EVIDENCE
4.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
4.1.1
Joseph Place
Mr Friel walked south along Rossville Street towards Free Derry Corner. When he was opposite the Joseph Place flats he heard live shots mixed with rubber bullets. These were the first live shots that he heard and they lasted for a few seconds. They appeared to be coming from the north. Mr Friel said that there were people around at this stage and they were all walking towards Free Derry Corner.
4.1.2
Free Derry Corner
Mr Friel walked southwards and dropped to the ground. His face was turned towards the city walls. He clearly remembers hearing three or four shots coming from his left (the east). There was a gap of 5 to 10 seconds between the shots that came from the north and the east.
Mr Friel saw a puff of brown smoke coming from the northern end gable wall of Joseph Place. It was plaster coming from the wall.
While he was on the ground, he also heard 3 or 4 shots from the general area of Nailors Row. There was a gap of seconds between these and the shots from the east.
4.1.3
Rubble barricade
Mr Friel said that before he got up, he took a final glance behind him and saw a man standing at the end of the rubble barricade who was possibly waving a handkerchief. He heard a crack and the man’s right arm began to wobble. The man fell on his backside. Mr Friel said that he got the impression that the man had been shot in the right arm.
Mr Friel learned that the man’s name was Nash and he would have been in his 40s or possibly older.
4.1.4
South of the Rossville Flats
Mr Friel saw Barney McGuigan’s eyelash on the southern wall of Block 2 of the Rossville Flats.
4.2
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS
4.2.1
Martin Gallagher
Mr Friel said that he met up with Mr Gallagher and remembers that he was in an emotional state because of what had happened that day. Mr Gallagher was convinced that the IRA had been shooting. Mr Friel was convinced that the Army had been firing from the walls. He disagreed that anyone who raised the question of IRA firing was shouted down. Mr Friel said that he had never said that Mr Gallagher had been shouted down.
5
WILLIAM ETHERSON’S EVIDENCE
5.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
5.1.1
Free Derry Corner
Mr Etherson heard shooting and got down on the ground. Somebody shouted that there was shooting from the walls. Mr Etherson said that he could not say whether shots were coming from the walls. He knew that they were coming over his head and from behind him.
5.1.2
Rubble barricade
Mr Etherson saw three young men run across Rossville Street. He does not know where they came from. Shooting was coming down Rossville Street. Mr Etherson did not see any soldiers. He could not tell whether the three men had been shot. He said that they fell, one after the other. He did not see the men picking up stones.
Mr Etherson’s 1972 statement does not say that he saw the three men fall. He said that he is now sure that he did see them fall.
5.2
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS
5.2.1 1972
statement
Mr Etherson agreed that he had discussed the events of Bloody Sunday with people. He had come to the conclusion that the three men he saw running in front of the rubble barricade must have been the men that were shot at the barricade.
6
THOMAS MELAUGH’S EVIDENCE (aka Eamonn Melaugh)
Mr Melaugh was a member of the Derry branch of the Civil Rights Association.
6.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
6.1.1
Magilligan
Mr Melaugh was asked questions about the photographs he had taken at the civil rights march that was held at Magilligan beach, the weekend before Bloody Sunday.
Mr Melaugh said that a crowd of demonstrators got around the barbed wire that had been erected on the beach by going into the sea and around the wire. Mr Melaugh pointed to one soldier in a photograph who he said had been particularly aggressive. He said that he thought that a young man who can be seen in a throwing position might have been throwing a missile at the security forces. He said that the photograph shows that there were no missiles lying about and if the man had thrown a missile, it was the only one there.
Mr Melaugh said that the soldiers behind barbed wire raised their rubber bullet guns and were in a highly agitated mood. He said that they were not responding to anything other than a group of civilians. The civilians were not advancing towards the barrier.
Mr Melaugh said that the photograph he took of an officer pointing his baton at two soldiers was of the officer giving the soldiers a dressing down about their behaviour.
6.1.2
Barrier 14
Mr Melaugh went to barrier 14 and took photographs about 10 minutes before the beginning of the main body of the march got there. He took the photograph which shows a soldier with a rifle poking out of the gap between the old cinema and McCools newsagents. He was not aware of any other soldiers present in a sniping position.
In the Sunday Times notes, Mr Melaugh is recorded as having said that one of a group of young lads lobbed a CS gas canister at the barricade. The gas cleared the civilians because the breeze drifted it away from the soldiers. Mr Melaugh said that he does not remember this incident.
Mr Melaugh said that he argued with a Royal Anglian soldier who pointed his rifle at him in the firing position. Barney McGuigan grabbed him by the shoulder and led him away. Mr Melaugh left the area and went to the Rossville Street flats.
6.1.3
Rossville Street
Mr Melaugh said that he stood on the footpath of Rossville Street and faced north. He saw two APCs coming towards him along Rossville Street.
Mr Melaugh said that a rubber bullet and then two live bullets were discharged from slits in the second APC. The bullets were fired in the direction of Free Derry Corner and Mr Melaugh said that they would have gone over the heads of civilians. He said that the SLR was poking out of a slit on the driver’s side and the rubber bullet gun was on the other side. Mr Clarke showed Mr Melaugh a photograph of the second APC on Rossville Street and said that there were no guns sticking out. Mr Melaugh said that he is sure that it happened. He saw smoke from the SLR.
Mr Melaugh noticed two soldiers directly behind the green telephone wire box at the side of Kells Walk. One soldier had a rubber bullet gun and the other had a rifle. The soldier fired a rubber bullet which hit the wall of Block 1 of the Rossville Flats. Mr Melaugh said that the soldiers had not come from the second APC because he had not seen them cross Rossville Street. He said that the soldiers must have come from another route. The soldier with the rubber bullet gun fired a second rubber bullet. Three more soldiers appeared around the gable end of Block 1 but then retreated back behind the gable wall.
6.1.4
Hugh Gilmore
Mr Melaugh said that he became aware of a small group of civilians coming down Rossville Street towards Free Derry Corner. One of the group, he later found out was Hugh Gilmore. He said that suddenly Mr Gilmore bent over slightly at the waist and clutched his right elbow to his side. Mr Gilmore was facing the rubble barricade. Mr Melaugh said that Mr Gilmore was about 3 feet away from him and he shouted ‘I’m hit, I’m hit.’ Mr Melaugh assumed that he had been hit by a rubber bullet.
Mr Melaugh said that he is confused about the circumstances of Hugh Gilmore’s death. He agreed that the account that he had recorded on a tape recorder was possibly a more accurate recollection. In this account he said that Mr Gilmore was standing at the rubble barricade, facing the Army. He said that Mr Gilmore was standing beside him when he said ‘I’m hit’ and then turned around and ran. He agreed that this account is similar to the one that can be found of his Sunday Times interview.
6.1.5
Sunday Times notes
Mr Melaugh said that he was interviewed by Peter Pringle of the Sunday Times within days of Bloody Sunday. He described 85% of the notes of the interview as fiction.
Mr Melaugh said that he had not thrown stones because he had two cameras around his neck.
Mr Melaugh said that he did not hear any low velocity shots when he was in the house attending to Patsy McDaid. He described this as a sinister invention.
The Sunday Times notes record Mr Melaugh as having seen soldiers catching a young lad and giving him an unmerciful beating. A number of people ran forward to try and rescue the boy. Mr Melaugh said that he did not witness this.
Mr Melaugh said that he dropped his lens cap and walked back up Rossville Street to collect it and saw soldiers pouring in on the left hand side of Glenfada Park. The note states that three soldiers came furthest up Rossville Street. The soldier at the front was shooting his rubber bullet gun almost as quickly as he could load it. Immediately behind him a soldier fired two live rounds from the waist without aiming.
6.1.6 South
of the Rossville Flats
Mr Melaugh took photographs of Hugh Gilmore as he lay dying. Somebody told him about a young girl who had been hit by an APC. He said that he could hear bullets coming off the gable end of Block 2 of the Rossville Flats. He believed the bullets were coming through the gap between Blocks 1 and 2.
Mr Melaugh went to the first maisonette in Joseph Place and photographed a man who had a bullet wound between his shoulder blades (Patsy McDaid).
Mr Melaugh saw the body of Barney McGuigan and took 8 or 9 photographs. He gave the photographs to John Lloyd of Time Out magazine but only two were returned. Three of the photographs that the BSI have show a blanket being taken off Mr McGuigan and another put on. Mr Melaugh said that he thinks that they were two different blankets.
Mr Melaugh said that the group congregated at the south of the Rossville Flats held an on the spot meeting.
6.1.7
Official IRA
Mr Melaugh said that he spoke to the Officials and it was his understanding that at the end of proceedings they had taken up positions in the flats around Free Derry Corner. He was not aware that they had fired any shots but said that it is possible that they did.
6.1.8 IRA
Mr Melaugh said that he had advised members of both wings of the IRA that they were not to bring weapons into the area and not to be provoked into firing shots. He spoke to them as Eamonn Melaugh rather than a representative of the Derry CRA. He was asked whether he got a response and said that the consensus of opinion was that there would be no weapons in the area. Mr Melaugh wrote the names of 6 Officials and 1 Provisional on a piece of paper for the Tribunal.
6.2
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF TE FAMILEIS AND WOUNDED
6.2.1
Patrick Doherty
Mr Melaugh agreed that he could be inaccurate in the position he placed Patrick Doherty’s body.
6.2.2
Civil Rights marches
Mr Melaugh said that he had been active in politics in Derry from 1967. He was a member of the Derry branch of the civil rights committee. Demonstrations were always held in Catholic ghettos. Mr Melaugh said that he was not aware of any occasion when people protesting about civil rights were used by IRA gunmen as cover to shoot at the Army.
6.3
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS
6.3.1
Sunday Times notes
Mr Melaugh agreed that his belief was that the Sunday Times journalists were making honest and sincere attempts to get at the truth. He said that he did not deliberately or knowingly lie to Peter Pringle. He said that he could have told an untruth believing that he was telling the truth.
6.3.2 Hugh
Gilmore
Mr Melaugh said that Hugh Gilmore was facing the direction of Free Derry Corner. He said that to the best of his recollection, he was walking towards Free Derry Corner when he saw Mr Gilmore shot. He said that Mr Gilmore was shot in the side and suggested that it was the soldier at the green telephone wire box.
6.3.3
Rubble barricade
Mr Melaugh did not see any stone throwing at the rubble barricade but said that he would not be surprised if there had been.
He did not see any soldiers being attacked on the waste ground. He would not be surprised if stones were thrown but he did not witness it. He cannot remember seeing the two soldiers on the west side of Rossville Street come under sustained stoning. He said that one of the soldiers fired two rounds at him without provocation.
Mr Melaugh did not see a civilian with a handgun at the northeast corner of Glenfada Park North firing at soldiers.
6.3.4
Magilligan
Mr Melaugh took 70 photographs at Magilligan. He said that he eye witnessed attacks by the army on civilians but he did not get the opportunity to photograph them. He saw scuffles between soldiers and civilians.
Mr Glasgow said that the soldiers in the photograph are walking past the officer rather than being spoken to. The officer denied reprimanding any soldier or seeing anything that he thought called for a reprimand.
6.3.5
Derry CRA
Mr Melaugh said that he did not think that Reg Tester should have been a member of the Derry CRA committee and the Official IRA at the same time. He said that he had absolutely no doubt that all members of the committee would have known that Mr Tester was an Official IRA man.
Mr Melaugh said that it would be very myopic of anyone to suggest that there was no association between the Derry CRA and the Official IRA.
6.3.6
South of the Rossville Flats
Mr Melaugh said that the bullet hole in the galvanised guard on the gable wall of Block 2 was about 7 feet off the ground. He does not think it would have been possible to stand and look through the hole.
7 ROSE McCARTNEY’S EVIDENCE
7.1 QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
7.1.1 City
walls
Mrs McCartney was standing just south of the rubble barricade when she heard heavy gunfire. She had the impression that it was coming from the north end of Rossville Street. She heard someone say ‘they are shooting from the walls.’ Mrs McCartney did not look up at the walls at any time.
8
DANIEL MORRISSON’S EVIDENCE
8.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
8.1.1
Rubble barricade
Mr Morrison said that he had a fleeting memory of Kevin McElhinney bending down and picking up a rubber bullet somewhere in the vicinity of the north of the rubble barricade. The sound of firing changed from rubber bullets to live rounds. Mr Morrison ran back to Block 1 of the Rossville Flats out of the corner of his eye saw a boy fall on the rubble barricade. The last time that he saw Kevin McElhinney was when he bent down to pick up a rubber bullet.
Mr Morrison’s 1972 statement said that Kevin McElhinney was running alongside him to the entrance of the flats and as he entered the flats he heard Mr McElhinney say ‘I’m hit, I’m hit.’ He agreed that he could be confusing Kevin McElhiinney with Hugh Gilmore.
Mr Morrison saw Kevin McElhinney’s body on the landing inside Block 1 of the Rossville Flats.
8.1.2
Sunday Times notes
Mr Morrison said that the note which says that he had noticed Kevin McElhinney had a rubber bullet in his pocket when they were stoning is not correct. He said that he saw Mr McElhinney picking the rubber bullet up.
8.2
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS
8.2.1 Rubble barricade
Mr Glasgow suggested that Mr Morrison was so concerned to establish that Kevin McElhinney should not have been shot that he felt entitled to lie about having thrown stones. Mr Morrison said that it was possibly why he had told the statement taker that he had not thrown stones.
Mr Morrison said that he did not see a civilian gunman close to the rubble barricade or machine gun fire or explosions or shootings from the rubble barricade. He said that he would have told the Tribunal if he had.
9 JOHN McLAUGHLIN’S EVIDENCE
9.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
9.1.1
Rossville Street
Mr McLaughlin met William McKinney on the pram ramp that leads to Kells Walk. He had a conversation with Mr McKinney and then left him to walk down Rossville Street. As he got to the end of Block 1 he heard two or three shots and knew that they had been fired by the Army because it was a distinctive sound.
Mr McLaughlin said that when he heard the shots he ran off the road and hit the ground by the three-penny bits.
Mr McLaughlin lay flat on his stomach with his face in the ground. He had his hands in front to show that he had no gun. He said that as he lay there he realised that the fire had come from the city walls. He could see the city walls but could not see any movement or the strike of bullets. The sound of the bullets came from his left hand side and from a height.
9.1.2 Free
Derry Corner
Mr McLaughlin ran back up Free Derry Corner and heard more shooting when he reached the lorry. He thought that this was from the walls because of the sound and height of the shots.
Mr McLaughlin ran across to Lecky Road and took cover at some small flats. He sheltered behind a fence to the south of Free Derry Corner. Mr McLaughlin ran to the rear of Bogside Inn and said that there were shots fired from a height as he ran.
9.2
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS
9.2.1
Rossville Street
Mr McLaughlin said that he joined the march very late. He cut over Abbey Street to try and get close to the speakers. He agreed that when he first heard shots, most of the march had gone through the rubble barricade, apart from some stragglers behind him.
Mr McLaughlin ran behind the Rossville Flats for cover and realised that he had made a mistake to run there. Mr McLaughlin ran diagonally down Rossville Street towards Free Derry Corner. He glanced and saw an APC facing Con Bradleys which had mounted the footpath. He is sure that he heard live shots before he saw the APC.
9.2.2
Meenan Square
Mr McLaughlin did not hear a shot fired from or into Meehan Square while he was there. He did not see any injured person dragged into a car in Meenan Square.
10
THERESA CASSIDY’S EVIDENCE
10.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
10.1.1
Rossville Street
Miss Cassidy stopped on Rossville Street. She saw 12 soldiers run past along William Street. She saw 4 to 6 large APCs turn south down Rossville Street.
Miss Cassidy heard live gunfire. She did not see anyone who was shooting or injured. She said that she saw three bodies lying on the ground to the south of the rubble barricade.
10.1.2
1972 statements
Miss Cassidy made three statements in 1972. She said that she would not have been under any pressure or temptation to overstate anything or to include anything that she had not actually seen. She has now got no recollection of seeing a young unarmed boy shot in the face. She now has no recollection of seeing soldiers shooting recklessly into an unarmed fleeing crowd.
In her handwritten statement, there is no reference to seeing bodies by the barricade. Miss Cassidy said that it is not possible that her memory had transposed the 3 or 4 people she had seen drop to the ground in Rossville Street to the rubble barricade.
There is no reference to seeing bodies at the rubble barricade in the statement that Miss Cassidy gave to the Widgery Inquiry. Miss Cassidy said that at the time, she was in a state of shock and her done her best to give a statement.
10.1.3 Free Derry
Corner
Miss Cassidy went to Free Derry Corner and threw herself to the ground. She saw bullets bouncing off the ground in St Columbs Street.
She said that the direction of the bullets meant that the shots must have been coming from the city walls.
Miss Cassidy ran to the banking (an alleyway off Columbs Wells). She could see bullets bouncing off the ground. She thought that the bullets were fired from the walls because of the noise and the way they were hitting the ground.
10.2
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS
10.2.1
Timing
Miss Cassidy thinks that she saw the bodies on the barricade before she got to Free Derry Corner where she saw people being pulled off the speakers’ lorry.
11
SEAN McDERMOTT’S EVIDENCE
11.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
11.1.1
Rossville Street
Mr McDermott was with his friend Frankie Mellon at Free Derry Corner. They stayed there for 10 to 15 minutes and then made their way towards the Rossville Flats. They stood on the south side of the rubble barricade.
Mr McDermott said that Hugh Gilmore came from the direction of the door of Block 1 of the Rossville Flats. He greeted Mr Gilmore who walked past the rubble barricade towards William Street. Mr McDermott said that people were milling about the rubble barricade just talking. At this stage, he was not conscious of the presence of the Army in the Bogside.
Mr McDermott continued to chat to Frankie Mellon for a couple of minutes. He heard a banging noise that seemed to be coming from William Street. Somebody shouted ‘they are shooting live rounds.’ Mr McDermott’s immediate reaction was to crouch down. He thought that they were rubber bullets. Mr McDermott said that he could not see any soldiers or anything to cause alarm. He was not conscious of having seen the Army arrive at all.
11.1.2 Hugh Gilmore
Mr McDermott said that