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9 - 11 OCTOBER 2001
This week the Tribunal heard evidence from two of the wounded; Joe Friel was shot across the chest and Patrick O’Donnell was shot in the shoulder. Both men were in Glenfada Park North when they were shot.
Joe Friel described the allegation made by Soldier 104 as ‘complete, utter, rubbish.’ The Tribunal also heard from Manus Morrisson and Eugene O’Donnell who were in the car with Mr Friel when soldiers at the Barrack Street barrier stopped it.
Patrick O’Donnell said that he was taking cover around the corner of the gable end of Glenfada Park North when he was shot in the shoulder.
Malachy Coyle described seeing the pavement explode around Jim Wray who was lying in Glenfada Park North.
A full transcript of proceedings is available at http://www.bloody-sunday-inquiry.org.uk
1
ROBERT HAMMOND’S EVIDENCE
Mr Hammond was the sound recordist with the ITN crew that covered the march from the Army’s side. He worked with the cameraman Peter Wilkinson and the reporter Gerald Seymour.
1.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
1.1.1
Barrier 14
Mr Hammond said that the stone throwing at barrier 14 lasted for about 30 minutes. Peter Wilkinson got hit on the leg twice. The soldiers allowed the bombardment for 15 minutes before replying with rubber bullets. The crowd dispersed and there was further bombardment for half an hour. The water cannon was used and he saw CS gas fizzing. Then the paras went through the barrier. About 20 to 30 soldiers rushed through the barrier. Mr Hammond followed them and then stopped at the corner of William Street and Rossville Street.
1.1.2
Junction of William Street and Rossville Street
Mr Hammond heard lots of firing. His first reaction was to keep his head down. He was not aware of any incoming fire. Mr Hammond said that it is possible that David Phillips came to the junction later on. He has no recollection of vehicles arriving in William Street.
Mr Hammond could see three soldiers positioned at the Kells Walk wall. In his 1972 statement he said that he heard single shot firing which sounded as if it was coming from 150 to 200 yards away or maybe further from the area bounded by Free Derry Corner and the junction of Fahan Street and Frederick Street. The sound was a deeper thud than an SLR. Shortly afterwards, he heard several bursts of machine gun fire from the same direction. He had heard the sound of machine gun fire before on the Falls Road in Belfast. He said in his 1972 account that he was not an expert on the sounds of gunfire.
The firing died down and he crossed to Rossville Street and met the second ITN crew. He noticed the Army three tonner near the junction. He shot some film from the side of the three tonner in the direction of the Rossville Flats. He moved to the passageway just north of the Kells Walk flats. He saw a soldier at the base of the north side of Kells Walk and another at the top of the Kells Walk fire escape.
1.1.3
Columbcille Court
Mr Hammond said that he saw a wounded or dead man being carried into a private vehicle at the north of Columbcille Court.
1.1.4
Turret machine gun
In his 1972 statement, Mr Hammond said that he saw an Army vehicle with a turret machine gun fire several single shots with its machine gun in the direction of Glenfada Park/Columbcille Court. Mr Hammond said that he now thinks that he is now no longer certain about this memory and believes he may have been mistaken, because there were lots of rubber bullets being fired and smoke.
1.1.5
Rossville Street
Mr Hammond saw a pair of legs of a dead man sticking out of the rear an APC. A paratrooper crouched near him said ‘they will not mess around with the paras after this.’ This was before his crew filmed the interview with Father Mulvey who described having seen bodies thrown into Saracens ‘like pieces of dead meat.’
Mr Hammond made his way up Rossville Street and turned right into William Street. He saw a number of people with their hands against the wall and their legs splayed and being vigorously frisked. One Knight of Malta was receiving special treatment. He then saw the arrestees loaded into a three tonner.
1.2
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND WOUNDED
1.2.1
Machine gun fire
Mr Hammond was shown the piece of footage that his crew recorded. Mr Harvey suggested that there were three distinct sounds. He said that there was the sound made by CS gas canisters being fired on Little James Street which he agreed was a low thud. There was the sound of rubber bullets being fired at Barrier 14 and in Rossville Street there was the crack of SLRs.
Mr Hammond said that he cannot be sure whether he had mistaken machine gun fire that he thought came from the ferret car with rubber bullets. Mr Hammond was not aware of the soldiers going in Chamberlain Street.
Mr Hammond agreed that the noise could have been made from a Sterling sub machine gun.
Mr Hammond agreed that in his Widgery evidence he said that he thought that the turret machine gun fired from the Rossville Flats across to Glenfada Park. Now he said that he cannot remember what he heard. He agreed that if he said it at the time he must have heard it.
Mr Hammond gave his statement to the Widgery Inquiry about three weeks after Bloody Sunday. He said that he cannot help as to whether he was influenced by David Phillips’ recollection of machine gun fire.
1.3
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS
1.3.1
Machine gun fire
Mr Hammond said that he had experience of hearing machine gun fire in Belfast. He agreed that in his Widgery evidence he referred to hearing machine gun fire on two occasions. Once, in Rossville Street towards the Rossville Flats which he thought were single shots from a Browning. He heard automatic rapid fire shortly after the troops had gone in when he was close to the junction of Rossville Street and William Street.
1.3.2
Arrestees
Mr Hammond saw the arrestees being searched. He did not see any soldier strike any one. He described it as vigorous searching.
2 MARTIN McLAUGHLIN’S EVIDENCE
2.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
2.1.1
Glenfada Park/Abbey Park
Mr McLaughlin heard the revving of APCs and ran from Barrier 14 down Rossville Street. He took cover behind a brick wall in an area that he thinks may have been Glenfada Park. Mr McLaughlin was not familiar with the area or the place names. There were 10 or 15 other people sheltering with him behind the low wall. He could hear firing and some people suggested that it was from the Derry Walls.
Mr McLaughlin saw a man’s body near the southwest entrance of what he thinks is Glenfada Park. Everyone assumed that the man had been shot. Mr McLaughlin’s group made two or three attempts to get out to the body but they were shot at and had to get back behind the wall. The feeling of the group was that somebody could see them moving and as they tried to move out, shots were fired. He did not see the strike of bullets.
2.1.2
Old Bog Road
Mr McLaughlin went from the Glenfada Park area towards the Old Bog Road. He had to take cover before he got to the Old Bog Road.
2.2
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS
2.2.1
Stewarding
Mr McLaughlin was asked to be a steward on the day of the march as he approached Bishops Field. He said that there were hundreds of stewards and he was asked to make sure that there was no confrontation. He does not remember being given any information about the destination of the march. He did not believe that a riot was inevitable at barrier 14.
3 MANUS MORRISSON’S EVIDENCE
3.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
3.1.1
Joseph Friel
Mr Morrisson said that he came upon Joseph Friel by the southern corner of Abbey Park. He said that he attended to Mr Friel with Jim Deehan. They flagged down a car that was driven by an elderly man.
Mr Morrisson said that he lifted Joe Friel into the back of the car and then he and Mr Deehan got in.
Mr Morrisson was told about other evidence relating to Joe Friel which states that he was carried to a house in Lisfannon Park. Mr Deehan’s 1972 evidence suggests that he first saw Joe Friel in a house in Lisfannon Park. Brian Kelly who lived next door to this house has confirmed that he gave the keys of his Ford Cortina car to Mr Deehan.
Mr Morrisson said that he still thinks that they flagged down a car in the road. He cannot recall Jim O’Donnell being in the car along with Mr Friel and Mr Deehan.
3.1.2
Barrack Street
Mr Morrisson said that when the car got to the top of Bishop Street/Barrack Street two soldiers at a barricade stopped them. One seemed to be a normal soldier carrying a baton gun and the other looked like a major as he was wearing a side arm belt with a revolver in it. The car approached the barricade slowly. The soldiers told the driver to pull the car to the left hand side. The soldier with the baton gun told Mr Morrisson to get out of the car.
Mr Morrisson said that he opened the passenger door and was hit at close range with a rubber bullet to his left shoulder. At the time, he was in a bent position. The soldier had put the rubber bullet gun on the frame of the car before Mr Morrisson had even got out. As Mr Morrisson put his foot out, the rubber bullet hit him.
Mr Morrisson said that he had not said anything to the soldier before he got out of the car. Mr Morrisson ran until he reached the Long Tower Church.
Mr Morrisson said that he was told later that a girl who worked with his father told him that she was near the barrier and saw the major fire at him as he ran away. Mr Morrisson cannot remember any shots fired as he was running.
3.1.3
Soldier 135’s statements
Soldier 135 was in the 1st Battalion of the Royal Anglians. His statement to the BSI has changed from the account that he gave in 1972.
In his statement to the RMP, Soldier 135 said that a crowd of 20 people had tried to get through the barrier and were milling around. Five minutes after the crowd, 3 cars came up from the Bogside and stopped behind the crowd. Soldier 135 said that a man got out of the first car and said ‘open the fucking barrier, I want to go to work.’
Mr Morrisson said that his impression was that his car was at the barrier alone. He did not say that he wanted to go to work or that he had a sick man in the car. Soldier 135 also said that as he went to the car, a man threw the door open to block his way. Mr Morrisson said that this was a lie. He said that the soldier told him to get out of the car and as he opened the door, the soldier fired the rubber bullet gun. There were no words spoken. Soldier 135 said that he fired one baton round at the man as he ran down Barrack Street. Mr Morrisson said that this was not the case. The rubber bullet hit him in the front of the shoulder which could not have happened if he had been running away from the soldier.
Soldier 135’s statement to the BSI states that he now only remembers one car at the barrier. He said that he told the driver to turn off the engine and both men were to ‘fucking get out of the car.’ He said ‘I put my baton gun on the side of the car, resting on the window frame and I immediately fired and blew them out of there.’ Mr Morrisson said this accords more with his memory. Soldier 135 said ‘I do not remember a gap between me telling them to get out and firing the baton round. The baton round hit them and knocked them both out of the driver’s door and onto the ground.’
3.2
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS
3.2.1
Lisfannon Park
Mr Morrisson said that he did not know where Mr Friel was shot. Mr Glasgow suggested that Mr Morrisson had been doing something between the time when the soldiers started chasing the crowd down Rossville Street and the time that he found Mr Friel. Mr Morrisson said that he did not think that time had been lost. He said that he had nobody to protect and denied giving an untrue account of his dealings with Mr Friel.
3.2.2 Jim
Deehan’s account
Mr Morrisson was
shown Mr Deehan’s 1972 account. Mr
Morrisson said that he had no reason to avoid the troops.
Mr Deehan said that Mr Morrisson had got out of the car, approached the
soldiers and had run away and then was shot by a rubber bullet gun.
Mr Morrisson said that this account was inaccurate.
Mr Morrisson said that there had been no running before he was ht by a
rubber bullet gun.
Mr Morrisson bumped
into Mr Deehan after Bloody Sunday and told him that he got a hammering from the
soldiers.
3.2.3
1972 statement
Mr Morrisson did
not make a statement in 1972 because he thought getting wounded by a rubber
bullet was nothing compared with what had happened to others.
He did not take matters any further.
4
ROBERT WALLACE’S EVIDENCE
4.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
4.1.1
Rubble barricade
Mr Wallace said that as he approached the rubble barricade, he heard live fire. The fire was very rapid as though the soldiers were emptying magazines. He could not see any soldiers firing but heard shooting behind him. He went to Glenfada Park and took cover at the gable end.
Mr Wallace said that he saw a wounded man carried from the barricade and he recognised him as one of the Kelly family. A few seconds later, a second man was carried from the rubble barricade to the gable end. The second man was carried face down by two people. Mr Wallace could not see any wound or blood on him.
4.1.2
1972 statement
Mr Wallace said that he does not know why he did not name Michael Kelly in his 1972 statement. He knew that he was one of the Kelly family. He had not mentioned the second man because he did not see any blood or mark on him.
Mr Wallace said
that he did not come under pressure from anybody in 1972 not to mention anything
he had seen.
4.1.3
Glenfada Park North
Mr Wallace said that he cannot recall how long he stayed at the gable end. It seemed like only a few minutes. Then he panicked and decided to run across into Abbey Park. He thought firing was coming from Rossville Street and inside Glenfada Park. He saw people getting through to Abbey Park and decided to try. AS he started to run, Mr Wallace heard a very intense burst of gunfire and he heard bullets hitting the walls of the houses along the southern block of Glenfada Park North.
Mr Wallace hid behind a car in Glenfada Park North. He glanced up Glenfada Park and saw soldiers running towards him.
He saw one soldier down on one knee. The soldier seemed to be aiming his rifle. There were other soldiers who seemed to be all around Glenfada Park. Mr Wallace took cover behind a car. He saw about 3 soldiers coming down the side of Glenfada Park towards the car. He thinks that one of the soldiers was firing because his rifle seemed to be moving.
Then a soldier approached Mr Wallace. Three or four more soldiers then arrived. Mr Wallace and the three or four people who had been taking cover were told to move.
4.1.3
Arrest and Fort George
Mr Wallace was struck on the back of the head with a rifle butt by a para. He was forced to run with his hands above his head and when he reached Little James Street, he was lined up facing a wire fence.
He was hit 2 or 3 times on the back of his head with a baton. He could hear the paras hitting other people too. Mr Wallace said that his hair became matted with blood from the wounds to his head.
Mr Wallace said that there was a man in his fifties who he thought must have had a terrible beating. He recognised the man as Christopher Doherty in the arrest photographs.
Mr Wallace was taken through his 1972 account of the arrest. In that, he said that the Army had said ‘move or we will shoot. Come on, move, move.’ He said that he thought that the soldiers were on tablets or drink. He said that his group was taken under some steps where he was hit on the head with a riot gun. He was taken to the wire at Little James Street and got hit on the jaw with a baton. He said he was hit on the back before he got out of the lorry and then once he got off.
Mr Wallace said that he is sure that the soldiers who made him run the gauntlet were paras because they were wearing red berets. He was identified by Soldier 1694 who was not the same soldier who had first reached him at the car.
4.2
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND WOUNDED
4.2.1
Glenfada Park North
Mr Wallace said that he thinks that Michael Kelly’s body was still at the corner of Glenfada Park North at the time that he left. Pat Norris was behind the car and shouted at Mr Wallace. He remembers saying his prayers as he hid behind the car and thinks that he was there for a few minutes. Shooting was going on whilst he was at the car. He saw people lying in the square but did not think that they were bodies.
4.3
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS
4.3.1
Arrest and Fort George
Mr Wallace said that the soldiers aggressively handled the arrestees. He said that the scene depicted on the video was fairly typical of how they were handled.
Mr Glasgow suggested that Mr Wallace had not been hit whilst he was at the wire at Little James Street.
Mr Wallace was asked why he had not mentioned having to run the gauntlet in his taped statement in 1972. He thinks that he did actually say it and asked whether the transcription was complete. Mr Glasgow suggested that he had overstated the severity of his injury and the way that he had been treated.
5
PAULINE FERRY’S EVIDENCE
5.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
5.1.1
Civil rights marches
Ms Ferry was a Knight of Malta volunteer. She had been a volunteer at three marches before Bloody Sunday and had never known gunmen to take advantage of the crowd to open fire on the soldiers. She had never taken injured people across the border to hospitals in Donegal.
5.1.2
Rossville Street/Kells Walk
Ms Ferry said that people started to scurry up Rossville Street and she assumed that they were running away from the Army. She felt the effect of CS gas and fell to her knees with her upper body slumped over a low brick wall by Kells Walk. She saw a para running towards her from William Street. He kicked her First Aid bag, spilling the contents on the ground. She was not aware of any other soldiers.
Ms Ferry said that she was picking up the contents of her bag when a young man ran towards her and told her that someone had been shot in Abbey Park.
Ms Ferry agreed that it is possible that some events had fallen out of her memory whilst she was leaning over the wall. There would have been more than a couple of minutes between her being at Kells Walk and the time that she was called to Abbey Park.
5.1.3
Michael Quinn
Ms Ferry found Michael Quinn lying in what she agreed could have been Blucher Street. Hugh Deehan arrived with the Knights of Malta ambulance and Mr Quinn was driven to St Mary’s in the Creggan. She agreed that it is possible that Mr Quinn was taken to the Creggan in a private car.
5.1.4
Red Mickey Doherty
Ms Ferry went to Vinny Coyle’s house because she had been told that there was an injured person there. There was a man lying on the couch with an injury to his leg. A Knight of Malta was treating him. Ms Ferry said that someone must have told her that the man had a gunshot wound. She was told that the man’s name was Mickey Doherty. She had known his full name when she gave her statement to the BSI. There was no reason, other than a slip of the mind, for her having only given his first name. No one told her how, where or in what circumstances the man had been wounded. She does not recall the man having an injury to his eye.
5.2
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS
5.2.1
Red Mickey Doherty
Ms Ferry agreed that Red Mickey’s name does not get mentioned as much as others who had been wounded on Bloody Sunday. She never heard that he was a gunman. She said that she knows there were other people injured on Bloody Sunday that she had not heard about. She had not seen Red Mickey before.
5.2.2
Knight of Malta First Aid Post
Ms Ferry said that the Doctors at the First Aid Post were likely to be Dr McClean or Dr McCabe. She vaguely remembers Dr McDermott and does not know Dr Fallon.
6 BERNARD (BARNEY) COYLE’S EVIDENCE
6.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
6.1.1
Alleyway off Rossville Street
Mr Coyle was with his brother Charles who was the manager of the Pop Inn. He heard APCs accelerating into Rossville Street. By the time that Mr Coyle and his brother had reached the area to the south of the pram ramp at the south end of Kells Walk, the APCs had come to a halt to the north of the rubble barricade and at the east of Columbcille Court.
Mr Coyle remembers one soldier getting out of the back door, stop running and in one movement go down on one knee, raise his gun to his shoulder and fire. Mr Coyle said that he did not know how the soldier missed his brother. Mr Coyle said that the soldier could not have been firing at anyone else because the space was too confined.
Mr Coyle was told that Soldier G said he fired two shots down an alleyway. Mr Coyle did not see anyone with a weapon or anything that could be mistaken for a weapon in this area.
6.2
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS
6.2.1
Rossville Street
Mr Coyle said that it was a matter of moments between the APCs stopping and the soldier firing.
Mr Coyle said that he did not remember any confrontation at the rubble barricade. He did not see a soldier rolling out of the APC in the manner that his brother had described.
7
JOSEPH FRIEL’S EVIDENCE
Mr Friel was 20 years old at the time of Bloody Sunday. He was shot in his chest by soldiers in Glenfada Park North.
7.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
7.1.1 Route
Mr Friel amended his statement to say that he was on the march. He said that he joined the march somewhere around the area of the Bogside Inn.
Mr Friel followed the march into Rossville Street. He said that he heard sharp cracks when he was parallel with the three-penny bits in Rossville Street. He said that he ran towards the telephone box on the south side of the Flats and then moved towards the entrance of the flats. Then he went towards Glenfada Park North.
Mr Friel said that he did not understand why he had not put this down as the route in his Widgery statement. He has a very vague memory of crossing Rossville Street.
Mr Friel said that the Sunday Times note of his route (to Glenfada North through Glenfada Park South) is totally wrong. He said that he does not remember the interview and if it did happen the journalist marked the wrong places.
7.1.2
Glenfada Park North
Mr Friel said that he has a vague memory of people at the gable end of Glenfada Park. He recalls cowering behind one of the two cars that were parked in the southeast corner of Glenfada Park North. There was shooting going on when he took cover. Mr Friel was 8 to 10 feet away from the southwest corner of Glenfada Park when he heard Gregory Wilde shout which made him turn and look over his right shoulder. Mr Friel saw 3 or 4 soldiers about 5 or 6 feet into the courtyard. They were coming from the northeast corner of Glenfada Park North. The soldier in front was moving forward and firing the gun in front of him just above waist height and was moving the gun from side to side.
Mr Friel heard three shots and felt a blow to his body which he thought was a rubber bullet. Within a second or two there was a large gush of blood which came out of his mouth and he shouted that he had been shot. He staggered and then three people grabbed him and took him to the Murray’s house in Lisfannon Park. Mr Friel did not know the three people who helped him to the house. The names of Leo Young, Eugene McGillan and Jackie Chambers were supplied to him later.
7.1.3
Lisfannon Park
Mr Friel agreed that it is possible that Jackie Chambers was already in the house when he was taken into it. Mr Chambers said that four people brought Mr Friel in.
Mr Friel was inside the house for a few minutes and was then taken to Altnagelvin Hospital. He saw Eugene O’Donnell, Evelyn Lafferty and Martin Gallagher there. He does not know where Jim Deehan or Manus Morrisson came from.
7.1.4
Barrack Street
Mr Friel was put into the back seat of a car which was stopped at a checkpoint at Barrack Street. Mr Friel was throwing up blood at the time. Jim Deehan said something like ‘make way, somebody is wounded in the back’ and was dragged out of the car. Mr Friel could hear lots of roaring. He heard a bang which could have been a rubber bullet or CS gas. Mr Friel said that he focused on Jim Deehan and he is the only one he remembers being dragged out of the car. Within seconds of Jim Deehan leaving the car, Mr Friel heard a bang which could have been a rubber bullet or CS gas.
After a few seconds, the car started to roll back and a soldier climbed into it to stop it moving. The soldier drove the car to a junction which he took to be the corner of Abercorn Road and Bishop Street. A policeman with ginger hair climbed into the passenger seat and asked his name and address. Mr Friel was put on a stretcher and an Army medic changed his dressing. Paddy Campbell was put into the APC next to him.
7.1.5
Soldier 135’s evidence
Mr Friel was asked about the evidence of Soldier 135 who said that someone in the car said ‘open the fucking barrier, I want to go to work.’ (See para 3.1.3 above.) Mr Friel has no recollection of that exchange. He was not conscious of a passenger in the car throwing the door open to block the way of an advancing soldier.
7.1.6
Alleged admission
Mr Friel was shown the statement of Soldier 104 who is the soldier who had driven him to the Regimental Aid Post near the Craigavon Bridge. He had not been shown this statement when he gave evidence at the Widgery Inquiry.
Soldier 104 said that Mr Friel asked him to take him to hospital. He then asked Mr Friel what he had been doing and that Mr Friel replied he had a gun and was carrying it when he walked around a corner and bumped into some soldiers, one of who had shot him. He said that Mr Friel said that he would not do it again and that he did not know what had happened to the gun.
Mr Friel said that this was complete rubbish and the only thing he had ever said to Soldier 104 was to plead him to take him to hospital. He asked how he could have had such a conversation when at the time he was choking with blood.
Mr Friel gave a statement to a police officer when he was in hospital. The first he heard about the allegation was at the Widgery Inquiry. Mr Friel said that at the time of the Widgery Inquiry, not even his legal representatives knew about the allegation that Soldier 104 made.
Mr Friel said that he did not see anybody with a gun or weapon that day except the soldier.
7.2
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND WOUNDED
7.2.1
Glenfada Park North
Mr Friel said that as he turned to look over his shoulder at the soldiers, there was nobody between himself and the soldiers. There were people coming from behind him, running towards Abbey Park. Mr Friel said that he was carrying nothing in his hands. The crowd in Glenfada Park were running away. There was no rioting. Mr Friel said that the photograph of the three bodies in Glenfada Park North show that there was nothing on the ground.
Mr Friel said that he spent most of his time in Glenfada Park North crouched behind the car. He did not see Jim Wray.
Mr Friel said that he had no recollection of the people who had helped him. The information had come from Leo Young.
7.2.2
ITN interview
Mr Friel has vague memories of being interviewed by ITN whilst he was in hospital. He was asked about the following parts of the interview.
Interviewer: ‘Were you carrying a gun?’
Mr Friel: ‘you are joking, the only gun I ever had was when I was a wean (child)'.
Mr Friel said that this is a reference to a toy gun. He agreed that he also said something to the effect that he would not know one end of a gun from the other.
Interviewer: ‘Do you think it is possible that the soldiers had seen someone who was carrying a gun standing behind you?’Mr
Friel: ‘a soldier, they believe they see anything. They said they shot nail bombers, well up until the time I was shot I heard nothing.’
7.3
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS
7.3.1
Presence on the march
Mr Friel said that he was on the march and that in previous statements he had denied being on the march because he was scared of 6 months imprisonment. A document called ‘Attachment 10’ says that he was on the march. In the 1970s, Mr Friel does not remember saying this.
Sir Allan Green suggested that when Mr Friel was taken through his Eversheds statement he had told an untruth in saying that he was not on the march. Mr Friel agreed that he had told a lie to Eversheds.
Mr Friel said that he may have spoken to people when he was on the march. He said that, at the time, he was shy and introverted. He agreed that he knew a lot of people to say hello to.
7.3.2
Glenfada Park North
In the transcript of the ITN interview, Mr Friel said that there were ‘hundreds’ of people in Glenfada Park North. He said that this was an exaggeration and there were not ‘hundreds.’
Mr Friel said that when Gregory Wilde shouted ‘the limeys are coming,’ he turned around. This saved his life and caused him to be shot across the chest. He had been running but stopped when Mr Wilde shouted. He said that Mr Wilde was behind him.
There were at least half a dozen people in front of him. People ran past him when he was shot. Mr Friel heard at least 3 bangs. He has not embroidered his recollection. He had not changed his story from the one he gave from his hospital bed. The version he had given from his hospital bed was a précis rather than the full story.
Mr Friel accepted that he had not mentioned that he had been hiding behind a car in his previous accounts.
7.3.3
Alleged admission
Sir Allan Green represents Soldier 104. He suggested that Mr Friel did tell the policeman/soldier exactly what they allege he said or that there was a misunderstanding about what was being said because of accents. Mr Friel did not accept this and said that Soldier 104 was put up to it.
7.4
FURTHER QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
7.4.1
Sunday Times team
Mr Friel said that Tony Geraghty of the Sunday Times had written a book on the Parachute Regiment where he said he was an ex member of the Regiment. Mr Friel said that Martin Dillon’s book ‘God and the Gun’ states that one of the Sunday Times team was a member of MI5.
8
BRENDAN DEEHAN’S EVIDENCE
8.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
8.1.1
William Street
Mr Deehan heard three loud cracks and saw Damien Donaghy and John Johnston fall. He was behind a burnt out lorry and he helped pull Mr Donaghy around the wall to safety.
8.1.2
Rossville Street
He came out of Kells Walk onto Rossville Street and saw APCs coming into Rossville Street. Then he heard gunshots. He saw two bodies on the rubble barricade whilst there were still people running over it. He did not see anyone gathered around the two bodies. He did not see anything that might have looked like a weapon near either of the two bodies.
8.1.3
Blucher Street
Mr Deehan met Michael Quinn on Blucher Street who appeared to have a large hole in his cheek with blood spurting out. He went to look for a car to take Mr Quinn to hospital. When he returned there were Knights of Malta attending to him.
8.1.4
Creggan
Mr Deehan’s wife told him that it took her and her father 40 minutes to walk from William Street to the Creggan. Her father said that a carload of local IRA looked as if they were heading to the Bogside.
8.2
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS
8.2.1
William Street
Mr Deehan heard rubber bullets at the same time as the three sharp cracks. There was a lot of noise but he could still tell the distinction between rubber bullets and CS gas canisters being fired.
9
EUGENE O’DONNELL’S EVIDENCE
9.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
9.1.1
Lisfannon Park
Mr O’Donnell said that when he heard the shooting, he ran to his friend’s house at 23 Lisfannon Park. Joe Friel was brought into the house. Jim Deehan found a Ford Cortina and they decided to take Mr Friel to hospital. Whilst they carried Mr Friel to the car, Mr O’Donnell heard more shooting. Mr O’Donnell said that it sounded like rapid rifle fire and he thought that it came from a high level.
The shooting continued while they drove the car away. Jim Deehan drove the car, Mr O’Donnell sat in the back seat and tended to Joe Friel. There was another man in the front passenger seat but Mr O’Donnell did not know who he was.
9.1.2
Barrack Street
They came to a barricade that was manned by soldiers. The man in the passenger seat said ‘hold on, I will get the soldiers to let us through the barricade’ and got out of the car. Mr O’Donnell did not see the man again. He was bent most of the time over the back seat talking to Joe Friel.
Mr O’Donnell does not remember the rubber bullet incident involving the soldier and Manus Morrisson (see para 3.1.2 above). He said that he thinks that if he had heard the rubber bullet going off at that distance he probably would have remembered it.
Mr O’Donnell said that once Mr Morrisson disappeared, Jim Deehan’s door was opened and he was grabbed by a soldier. The handbrake was not on right and the car started rolling backwards. The soldier had to jump in and put the handbrake on.
Mr O’Donnell said that he did not see Mr Deehan put up against the wall by a soldier using the butt of a rifle. In his 1972 statement, Mr O’Donnell said that Jim Deehan was hit over the head with a rifle. He does not recollect that now.
9.1.3
Soldier 135’s statements
Mr O’Donnell was asked about Soldier 135’s statements (see para 3.1.3 above). Mr O’Donnell does not remember anyone in his car shouting that they wanted to go to work. No one in the car threw open a door to block a soldier’s way. Mr O’Donnell does not remember seeing 2 men being knocked out of the driver’s door by a baton round and then running away.
9.1.4
Soldier AA’s statement
Mr O’Donnell said that he was bent over Mr Friel attending to him and was not aware of what was going on outside. Soldier AA said that two Cortinas arrived at Barrack Street and that 2 occupants in the front and back ran in all directions. Mr O’Donnell does not remember this.
9.1.5 Arrest
Mr O’Donnell was taken to Pitt Street and a soldier put a rifle to the back of his head. He heard two shots from quite close by and assumed that they were fired by soldiers.
Mr O’Donnell said that he was not even aware that he had been arrested. The notes on his arrest form state that he was ‘evading arrest.’ Mr O’Donnell said that he had not struggled with any soldier or tried to get away.
9.2
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE
SOLDIERS
9.2.1
Joe Friel
Mr O’Donnell worked in the tax office and knew that Joe Friel worked there as well. He had visited Mr Friel in hospital. He did not know when Mr Friel returned to work. He did not know that Mr Friel kept the fact that he had been on the march a secret.
10
MALACHY COYLE’S EVIDENCE
Mr Coyle was 16
years old on Bloody Sunday.
10.1 QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
10.1.1
Glenfada Park North
Mr Coyle walked north across the Glenfada Park North car park towards the alleyway in the northeastern corner. He stood looking towards Columbcille Court to see if he could see what was going on to the north of the Rossville Street area. He heard gunfire which started off with one individual high velocity shot and increased to become what sounded like a cascade of gunfire.
Mr Coyle said that people in the car park area where running in a southerly direction. A group of about 8 to 10 people were standing on the north side. Mr Coyle ran to the south of the car park. Just before he reached the alleyway, he was grabbed and dragged into the backyard of the corner house at the southwest end of Glenfada Park North. A bald man had grabbed him and they crouched down behind the wooden fence in the backyard and looked through the gaps between the slats. Mr Coyle thinks that the bald headed man was John McCourt.
Mr Coyle looked out to the car park and could see three people lying on the ground to his right. The person lying closest to him, who he believes was Jim Wray, was still alive. The man was lying face down half on and half off the south pavement. His head was nearest to Mr Coyle and his feet were pointing back towards the Rossville Flats. Mr Coyle could see an injury to the man’s eyebrow.
When he first saw Mr Wray, he assumed that he had been shot because he had heard gunfire. Mr Wray said ‘I cannot move my legs,’ and Mr Coyle assumed that he had been shot in the back. Mr McCourt said ‘Be quiet, lie still.’ Mr Coyle said ‘lie down, pretend you are dead.’ At this stage, he still had not seen any soldiers in Glenfada Park North.
Then the concrete near Mr Wray exploded. Mr Wray let out a groan and his head went down. Before Mr Wray raised his head, Mr Coyle had not seen him move. The pavement exploded in sparks.
In Mr Coyle’s 1972 statement he said that Mr Wray had been shot in the back of his left shoulder.
Seconds later, he saw 4 or 5 soldiers enter the car park from the alleyway in the northeast corner. The soldiers came running in, holding their rifles at waist height with their rifle butts resting on their upper stomachs and the barrels pointing at 45 degrees. They were all, except one, wearing helmets and acted as a disciplined group.
Mr Coyle described the soldier without a helmet. He ran ahead of the other soldiers to the gable end and came across the group of 20 to 30 people hunched down for cover behind the gable wall. The soldier was very threatening in his mannerisms. The other soldiers came up behind him and did not have the same menacing presence as the first soldier.
Mr McCourt told Mr Coyle that they would have to put their hands over their heads and give themselves up. He thinks that there were seconds between them seeing the soldiers and coming out from behind the fence.
Mr Coyle saw a boy standing on his own in front of a fence on the south side of Glenfada Park North. The bare headed soldier turned quickly and aimed and fired his rifle at the boy. Mr Coyle said that he had the clear impression that the soldier shot the boy. The boy was not doing anything when he saw him that could have caused the soldier to think that the boy posed any sort of threat to the soldier. He assumed that the boy had been shot in the stomach.
Mr Coyle said that he could not understand how the 20 to 30 people standing at the gable end could have missed seeing the boy hit. He does not remember anything after the boy was hit. Mr Coyle just bolted.
Mr Coyle said that during the whole time he was in Glenfada Park North, he did not see anybody, other than soldiers, with a weapon of any kind.
10.2
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND WOUNDED
10.2.1
Glenfada Park North
Mr Coyle said that there was sustained gunfire. He described it as a cascade of gunfire rather than individual shots.
Mr Coyle did not know that the man who pulled him into the back yard was called John McCourt.
Mr Coyle said that his memory was that he was in the first yard at the southeast entrance of Glenfada Park North. Channel 4 documentary makers told him that he was in the second yard.
The man who was in the yard with him did not go inside the house.
Mr Coyle said that he was terrified but not hysterical. He opened the dustbin to look in and see if he could hide. He was not aware of anyone in the yard next door.
Mr Coyle was shown photographs of Soldiers G and H. He said that soldier H looked slightly more like his recollection of the bare headed soldier but he could not be sure whether or not they were the same person.
10.3
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS
10.3.1 11:00am mass
Mr Coyle said that a number of soldiers were leering at parishioners as they came out of mass.
10.3.2
Barrier 14
Mr Coyle said that he felt trapped and it was like being in a football crowd. When the gas was fired over him, he tried to get away and could not get out because of the press of bodies.
10.3.3
Sniper fire
Mr Coyle said that he thought he heard sniper fire before Bloody Sunday. It was not associated with rioting.
10.3.4
Glenfada Park North
Mr Coyle said that he felt tension in the air before there was any live fire. He did not see anybody with a nail bomb or gun. He could not help as to what would have caused people to feel apprehensive before the shooting started.
No soldier walked to within yards of Mr Wray’s body whilst Mr Coyle was in the courtyard. He agreed that there was a group of soldiers behaving in a fairly disciplined way but one person behaving totally irresponsibly. He was focused on the first soldier.
He cannot remember ever saying that the soldiers were in a slightly crouched position and seemed to be taking cover. This was a description in one of Mr Coyle’s draft statements to the BSI which he amended. He does not remember seeing soldiers at either corner whilst he was crouched in the yard.
Mr Coyle does not know whether the boy was actually shot. The filmmakers told him that no body was found in that area.
10.3.5
High and low velocity fire
Mr Coyle said that he did not hear any low velocity fire.
10.3.6
John McCourt
Mr Coyle was introduced to Mr McCourt by the Channel 4 documentary makers. He said that the person he hid in the yard with had a baldhead.
Mr Coyle did not see Tommy McCourt in Glenfada Park North.
10.3.7
1972 statement
Mr Coyle cannot recall whether he told the statement taker in 1972 about the bare headed soldier. He said that the statement taker told him that they would précis his account down as much as possible.
11.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
11.1.1
Barney McGuigan
Mr McGee met Barney McGuigan on the march at Southway and spent much of the march with him. He stood with Mr McGuigan at the gable end of Block 1 for five minutes.
Mr McGuigan was with him when he saw teenagers throwing stones at the barrier.
Mr McGee said that he did not do anything wrong at any point. He was just walking and chatting. Mr McGee returned to the gable end of Block 1. He saw a piece of flesh that looked like an eyebrow.
11.2
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS
11.2.1
Glenfada Park North
Mr McGee said that there were 30 to 50 people in the car park of Glenfada Park North. He does not remember anyone with any weapon or anyone putting anything into the car boot. People were running in different directions. He does not recollect anyone going to the north of the courtyard.
12
PATRICK O’DONNELL’S EVIDENCE
Patrick O’Donnell was wounded in Glenfada Park North on Bloody Sunday.
12.1
QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL
12.1.1
Glenfada Park North
Mr O’Donnell entered Glenfada Park North from the northwest entrance. There were people shouting at him to ‘get down’ because of the shooting. Mr O’Donnell made his way to the gable wall. The sound of shooting was from Rossville Street.
There were two or three people standing a little out from the gable wall.
Mr O’Donnell said that he was thinking about making a dash to the southwest corner of Glenfada Park. Three or four lads started running towards Abbey Park. One stumbled and fell at the corner of the exit. He cannot remember whether he got up again.
Mr O’Donnell went back to the corner of the gable. He huddled in the area leading to the wooden fence on the east of the courtyard. Through the slats in the wooden fence, he could see a couple of soldiers standing with their guns at the ready. He huddled down even tighter. Mr O’Donnell heard a loud crack and recalls a burning feeling in his right shoulder and he thought that his overcoat was on fire. He put his hand to his shoulder and found there was blood on it and smoke coming from his shoulder. A chip came out of the wall behind him.
Mr O’Donnell agreed that it was possible that the bullet hit the wall and ricocheted off it and that portions of shrapnel came through his shoulder. He moved back to the shelter of the gable end. Winifred O’Brien gave him a handkerchief to put on his shoulder.
Mr O’Donnell does not remember giving a statement to the RUC. He remembers talking to a Sunday Times journalist. The account refers to two shots. One shot hit the wall beside him and the other shot went into the wooden fence. He has no recollection of there being two bullets, one of which smashed into the wooden fence.
12.1.2
Arrest
A matter of minutes later, soldiers appeared round at the gable and told him and others to march in single file to the northeast end of the car park. They were marched under the steps at the north end of Kells Walk. He has no idea what the purpose of being marched under the steps was. Mr O’Donnell identified himself in the video which shows the arrestees being marched with their hands on their heads.
Mr O’Donnell said that he was marched to the taxi stand and told to stand up against the wall. One of the taxi drivers told him to go into the taxi office. Shortly afterwards, soldiers burst in and ordered him to get out. As Mr O’Donnell went out of the door, he was hit very hard on the head with what may have been a baton.
The only people he remembers in the taxi rank were taxi drivers. He was hit on the left hand side of the head and still has a scar.
Mr O’Donnell was let go and taken by the taxi drivers to a house in Swilley Gardens. There was a Knight of Malta and Dr Fallon was called. Mr O’Donnell was taken to Altnagelvin Hospital.
Mr O’Donnell will continue giving evidence next week.
Tuesday 9 para 1 to 5
Wednesday 10 para 6 to 9
Thursday 11 para 10 to 12
For Peace Justice & Human Rights
