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9 - 12 SEPTEMBER 2002
SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE
This week, the Tribunal heard evidence from two of its own experts, Richard Shepherd and Kevin O’Callaghan regarding the pathological and ballistic nature of the injuries sustained by the dead and wounded.
Six police officers also gave evidence concerning what they had seen on the day. All of these officers, with the exception of Patrick McCullagh, gave their evidence screened from the families and wounded. Albert Falkingham and Raymond Kirk, who were both stationed behind Barrier 14, told the Tribunal that they had heard a burst of machine-gun fire lasting approximately 45 seconds as the Paras had entered the Bogside. Sampson Trotter said that he had been the first RUC officer to discover the presence of a nail bomb on the body of Gerald Donaghy. Robert Whyte and Christopher Laird were stationed in the area of Butcher’s Gate and the Diamond and told the Tribunal that they had heard the sound of nail bombs. Whereas Mr Laird heard the sound of automatic gunfire and of a gun battle in the Bogside, Mr Whyte did not hear any automatic or semi-automatic fire on the day.
Patrick McCullagh was Chief Superintendent Lagan’s deputy at the time of Bloody Sunday. Seeing as Mr Lagan will not be testifying before the Tribunal due to ill-health, Mr McCullagh is the most senior RUC officer based in Derry to give evidence to the Tribunal.
OTHER ISSUES
Lord Saville asked everybody to stand for two minutes silence to remember the victims of 11th September 2001 attacks in America.
A full transcript of the proceedings is available at http://www.bloody-sunday-inquiry.org.uk
1. RIchard shepherd’s evidenc
Dr Shepherd is one of the Tribunal’s experts. He is a senior lecturer in the Forensic Medicine Unit at St George’s Hospital Medical School in London. He is also a fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists and an accredited Home Office pathologist. He has co-authored a number of reports for the Inquiry dealing with the injuries sustained by the dead and wounded on Bloody Sunday.
1.1 questions on behalf of the tribunal
Counsel for the Tribunal walked through Dr Shepherd’s findings in relation to the individual deceased and wounded, asking for further clarification where necessary.
1.1.1 Michael Kelly
Michael Kelly was hit by one bullet which struck his abdomen. Dr Shepherd concluded that the bullet hit him side on, indicating that the bullet was unstable, probably because it had struck an object or another person prior to striking Michael Kelly. Assuming the Normal Anatomical Position (i.e. that Michael Kelly was standing upright at the time he was hit), the direction of the bullet was downward and from left to right.
1.1.2 John Young
Dr Shepherd said that the bruising to the tip of the victim’s tongue was due to post-mortem drying of the tongue and did not represent a separate injury. He said that the victim had been killed by a single bullet which struck him on his left cheek and exited through his back.
1.1.3 Hugh Gilmore
Hugh Gilmore’s body displayed two wounds to the chest and two to the left arm. Although there is some question over whether the victim was hit by one bullet, exiting and re-entering his body, it was Dr Shepherd’s belief that the more likely conclusion was that Hugh Gilmore was struck by two bullets, one striking the right side of his chest and the other his left forearm. In this he disagreed with the conclusion reached by Dr Press in 1972 who favoured the ‘one bullet’ theory
1.1.4 Kevin McElhinney
Dr Shepherd agreed with Dr Marshall’s 1972 conclusion that Kevin McElhinney had been hit by only one bullet, causing four wounds to his body, but disagreed in relation to the behaviour of the bullet, concluding that the additional two wounds had been caused by the bullet exiting and re-entering the victim’s body, as opposed to bullet fragmentation. Dr Shepherd said that neither he nor fellow expert Mr O’Callaghan believed that a bullet could fragment in the pattern suggested by Dr Marshall without leaving any traces of metallic debris on the X-ray. This had led them to reject his conclusions as incorrect.
1.1.5 James Wray
James Wray’s body displayed two entry wounds on the right hand side of the back and two exit wounds, one on the left shoulder and one on the back of the left lower chest. The shoulder wound was a ‘shored wound’ (displaying an exit abrasion). It is Dr Shepherd’s opinion that the most likely explanation for the shoring to the wound is that James Wray was shot as he lay on his left side on the ground. He said that the shoring of the exit wound was considerably greater than that displayed in the case of William Nash and that he and Mr O’Callaghan had therefore felt that the pressure or tightening had to have been greater in the former case than in the latter. They concluded that the increased pressure was most probably caused by his lying on a surface such as a kerb stone at the time of the shooting, but Dr Shepherd acknowledged that this was a subjective point of view.
1.1.6 William McKinney
Dr Shepherd told the Tribunal that, on the evidence available to him, it was impossible to conclude whether William McKinney had been shot by one bullet causing the wounds to his trunk and to his arm, or by two separate bullets.
1.1.7 Gerald Donaghy and Gerard McKinney
Dr Shepherd said that there was no doubt that Gerald Donaghy was hit by only one bullet which struck his abdomen approximately ‘side on’. He said that the ‘side on’ contact, the lack of penetration of the body and the damage to the bullet all indicated that the bullet had struck another object or person before striking Gerald Donaghy.
He said that disturbance to the flight of the bullet could have been caused by the bullet having first hit something hard (such as a wall) or something soft (such as the soft tissue of another person). He said that damage to the bullet could have been partly but not entirely explicable by its contact with Gerald Donaghy’s own vertebrae.
In relation to the ‘shoot through’ theory concerning Gerald Donaghy and Gerard McKinney (i.e. that Gerald Donaghy was hit by the same bullet that hit Gerard McKinney), Dr Shepherd said that, in order for this to have happened, the left side of Gerald Donaghy’s abdomen would have to have been facing the right side of Gerard McKinney’s back in order for the bullet to have travelled between them, assuming the Normal Anatomical Position.
1.1.8 Barney McGuigan
The bullet that killed Barney McGuigan entered the left side of his head and exited through his right eye, leaving in his head a number of bullet fragments. Dr Shepherd said that, from the information available to him and to Mr O’Callaghan, their opinion was that the injury was not caused by a stable and intact L2A2 bullet. Their joint report lists four possibilities that might explain the bullet fragmentation visible in the X-rays of Barney McGuigan’s head: a) an L2A2 bullet which had been weakened by an impact with an intermediate target; b) a stable but substandard L2A2 bullet; c) a stable L2A2 bullet which had been deliberately weakened (a dum-dum bullet); d) some other type of calibre or ammunition. However, Dr Shepherd said that there was no way of ever being certain as to the nature of the bullet that struck Barney McGuigan.
1.1.9 John Johnston
The report co-written by Dr Shepherd and Mr O’Callaghan states that the multiple injuries sustained by Mr Johnston might have been caused by one or more bullets fragmenting prior to striking him.
1.1.10 Patrick McDaid
Dr Shepherd and Mr O’Callaghan concluded that the appearance of the injury sustained by the wounded Patrick McDaid suggested that it might have been caused by a thin disc or sliver of material moving rapidly, which sliced through the skin on his back, leaving a flap of tissue. Dr Shepherd said that the wound did not have the appearance of a typical bullet wound.
Dr Shepherd told the Tribunal that he had been shown some witness statements and documents that had confirmed his opinion that Mr McDaid had not been struck by a bullet. He said that objects that could have caused the slicing to Mr McDaid’s back would include a penny, other metal discs, the top or bottom of a ‘U2’ type battery , etc. He said that he understood that such items were attached to or fired in place of or within baton rounds in Northern Ireland at the time of Bloody Sunday. He also said that the black particles observed around Mr McDaid’s wounds might be explained by the disc being contaminated by the contents of a battery or by the soiling of a penny if it were placed against the charge in the baton round gun.
1.2 questions on behalf of the families and wounded
1.2.1 Patrick McDaid
Dr Shepherd said that he and Mr O’Callaghan had suggested pennies and parts of batteries as two possibilities that could have caused the wound to Patrick McDaid, but said that they had never in
