Bloody Sunday killings to be ruled unlawful

Started by Lady GAA GAA, June 10, 2010, 11:36:14 PM

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Rufus T Firefly

How much does Campbell's bitterness and begrudgery contrast with the generosity of the leaders of the main Protestant churches who intend to meet the Bloody Sunday families tomorrow in an act of reconciliation?

The following text was taken from the brilliant book by Peter Pringle and Philip Jacobson, Those Are Real Bullets, Aren't They? - and detail some of the events in Glenfada Park that day. Some of the detail is not nice reading.

Sheltering in the doorway of 7 Abbey Park, the house of Mr and Mrs O'Reilly, was William John Porter, a quartermaster sergeant in the Irish Army. He ran through the alley and a woman in number 8 said, 'Mister, Quick. Come in here.' He slipped in and hid behind the door, keeping it slightly open so that he could see down the alley.

Porter saw Jim Wray fall and hit his head on the sidewalk. Then there was a volley of shots. He closed the door and went to the window. 'My God, there's a man been shot,' he told the people in the house. He went back to the door and opened it. He saw Wray lying half on, half off the pavement. His left arm was limp and there was blood on his wrist.

Wray raised his head up off the ground and looked towards where Porter was standing in the doorway. Wray then tried to press himself up with his right hand, but he couldn't move. Porter ran out of the door towards Wray and three bullets smacked into the wall in front of him. He ran back into the house and slammed the door.

Malachy Coyle, a sixteen year old schoolboy, also saw Jim Wray fall on the pavement. Coyle had been running away from the paratroopers as they came into Glenfada (Park) and had almost reached the alley into Abbey Park when he was grabbed by a man, who pulled him to safety into the backyard of a house. It had a slatted wooden fence through which Coyle could see the Paras moving into the courtyard. He was scared stiff. He thought of hiding in the dustbin, but it was full of rubbish, so he just crouched down behind the fence.

Wray was looking directly at Coyle, raised his head off the pavement and said, 'I can't move my legs.' The bald man who had pulled Coyle to safety told Wray, 'Keep calm, keep calm.'

Coyle said, 'Don't move. Pretend you're dead.'

More shots rang out from the north end of the courtyard and the pavement around Wray exploded in sparks. Wray was still trying to raise himself up. From the house he was in, John Porter saw Wray's corduroy jacket jump four or five inches in the air and his head went down slowly on the pavement. Wray had been shot in the back for the second time.

The first bullet, which had caused him to fall so that he couldn't move, entered Wray's back from the right and travelled to the left almost horizontally across his back – from the direction of the paratroopers. The bullet damaged the spine at the tenth and eleventh thoracic vertebrae, fractured the tenth and eleventh left ribs and bruised, but did not penetrate, the left lung. The spinal injury meant that Wray could not lift himself up.

The second bullet was the one that killed him. It entered Wray's back, just above the first bullet. Then it passed through muscle tissue, damaged the eighth thoracic vertebrae, fractured parts of five left ribs by which time it was tumbling through the tissue of the left lung before leaving the body. The gaping exit wound exposed lacerated muscles. Death, which was not instantaneous, was caused by bleeding and the escape of air into the left chest cavity from the damaged lung.

The wounded Joe Mahon watched, terrified, as Wray was shot while on the ground. Mahon was lying behind Wray and saw his desperate efforts to get up. He heard him calling for help to Porter, Coyle and others sheltering in the alley.

After Wray was shot the second time, Mahon could hear the soldiers coming closer. He lay still, pretending he was dead. Behind him, Willie McKinney lay moaning.
Willie McKinney was still conscious after being shot, also in the back. One bullet had caused four surface wounds and multiple internal injuries. The entrance wound was on the right side of his back. As it travelled through his body, it fractured some ribs, lacerated the diaphragm, the right lung, the liver, colon, stomach and spleen and then made a hole in his left side big enough for his guts to be hanging out. The bullet then ripped holes in the back and front of his left forearm before leaving his body.

A paratrooper, whose footsteps Mahon could hear coming closer, left McKinney alone and walked forward towards the alley. He then fired three more rounds into the alley and Mahon heard him say, 'I've got another one.' Mahon did not dare move to see what he was firing at.

The paratroopers' last shots into the alley before leaving killed the businessman, Gerry McKinney, and a youth in blue jeans named Gerald Donaghy.

After the rush out of Glenfada through the alley into Abbey Park, people took shelter in and behind the houses there. John O'Kane had run through the alley with his brother-in-law, Gerry McKinney, and they had dived for cover. Through the alley, they could see where Wray had fallen in Glenfada Park and wondered how they could reach him.

Donaghy was seventeen and an ardent Republican who had just completed six months in jail for rioting. He said he would be able to get to Wray if he crawled on his stomach but as he started out O'Kane and McKinney pulled him back saying it was too risky. There was more shooting and then all three started to move out across the mouth of the alley. People on the other side shouted, 'Get back, get back.'

O'Kane turned back, but McKinney and Donaghy kept edging out. O'Kane shouted , 'Come back, it's not worth it.' But it was too late.

The paratrooper spotted them.

Gerry McKinney's arm was stretched out across Donaghy's chest, holding him back. He said to Donaghy, 'Just a minute son, 'til we see if it's clear.'  As he turned his head into the alley to see if it was safe to cross, he spotted the paratrooper aiming at him, his hands shot up in the air and he cried out, 'No, no.' Two shots rang out. McKinney and Donaghy fell to the ground. Donaghy was clutching his stomach.

A thirteen year old school boy, John Carr, saw Gerald McKinney shot. He lived with his family at 8 Abbey Park. John's father, Peter, had let the group with Kelly's body inside the house, then herded all the children upstairs and put four or five of them, including John and the one year old baby, in an empty wardrobe, closed the door, and told them to stay there.

After a minute, John's curiosity got the better of him, and he came out of the wardrobe and went into his brother's bedroom at the front of the house. As he looked out of the window through the alleyway into Glenfada, several shots rang out  and he saw Jim Wray's head fall slowly on to the pavement.

Then he saw a soldier come through the alleyway and face a group of people who ran away – except for one man who threw his hands up in the air and looked directly at the soldier. The bedroom window was closed and John could not hear whether the man said anything, but as his hands went up, the soldier shot him, and he fell on his back. John saw him bless himself with his right hand across his face. It was Gerry McKinney. John screamed out, 'They've shot a man and he had his hands up.'

When the shooting stopped, people came out of the houses in Abbey Park and tried to get to the wounded. The first to go to Donaghy and Gerry McKinney were shot at. Eibhlin Lafferty came out of the Murrays' house, where she had been treating Joe Friel. Another paramedic, Robert Cadman, joined her.

Looking through the alley, Lafferty saw the bodies of Wray, Mahon and Willie McKinney lying on the pavement. There was blood coming from McKinney's mouth.

Cadman saw the barrel of a rifle appear at the Glenfada end of the alley and shouted to Lafferty to stay still but she didn't hear him. She was bending over Gerry McKinney and Donaghy, and had only time to see they were alive when there was a shot. The bullet apparently hit the cobblestones behind Leo Young and he ducked down on one knee. Lafferty lay flat and shouted, 'Don't shot, don't shoot, Red Cross.' Cadman joined her and they moved towards the alley into Glenfada

At the same moment, Mahon, who was still pretending to be dead, turned his head to see if the paratroopers had gone and looked straight at one. . The soldier got down on one knee and took aim. Just then Lafferty shouted again, 'Don't shoot, Red Cross.'

The soldier shouted back, 'Your white coats are great targets but your red hearts are even better.'

She shouted, 'Are you mad?'

He didn't fire and Mahon would later credit Lafferty's intervention with saving his life.     

DennistheMenace

Michael Mansfield talks an awful lot of sense.

longrunsthefox

Quote from: Celt_Man on June 15, 2010, 11:24:15 PM
Quote from: Minder on June 15, 2010, 08:57:26 PM
Quote from: gallsman on June 15, 2010, 07:51:05 PM
Cameron could very easily have used words such as "regret" and he came out directly and said "sorry." He didn't try and dilute anything and called everything exactly as Saville had it and accepted it without question. Very impressive and courageous for a Tory PM.

Personally felt flags and talk of Palestine and Gaza were out of place. Today was about Derry and Bloody Sunday, not the events in the middle east.

Totally agree.

Same here, no need for any other agenda

I think it gives hope to those people that justice and truth can prevail and was okay at time to compare Bloody Sunday with Sharpeville massacre in the USA.

Celt_Man

Jaysus Rufus tough stuff reading that there
GAA Board Six Nations Fantasy Champion 2010

ziggysego

I was deeply sickened listening to the words of Gregory Campbell on Spotlight tonight. An extremely bitter man, who is hell bent on rewriting history to suit his own needs ironically enough.

When Mark asked Gregory does he believe if the killings were justified, he danced around the subject for a long time until he was backed into a corner. Then he just said he didn't know, as how could Saville know what happened 38 years ago!!!

As Michael Mansfield QC said, Gregory wants to move on and he is terrified of looking back.
Testing Accessibility

Franko

Gregory Campbell's response was a disgrace.  I hope anyone who cast a vote for that man in the recent elections is now thoroughly ashamed of the bigoted sectarian scum who they have elected.

pintsofguinness

Quote from: Franko on June 16, 2010, 12:04:30 AM
Gregory Campbell's response was a disgrace.  I hope anyone who cast a vote for that man in the recent elections is now thoroughly ashamed of the bigoted sectarian scum who they have elected.
What, sure the ones who voted for him probably think his response was great.
Which one of you bitches wants to dance?

Zapatista

Miriam O'Callaghan on tonight saying the British Army have a great and honorable tradition. I nearly puked.

Franko

Maybe I'm being naive but I would hope that Gregory's response wouldn't be indicative of the broader unionist feeling.

Tony Baloney

Quote from: pintsofguinness on June 16, 2010, 12:07:35 AM
Quote from: Franko on June 16, 2010, 12:04:30 AM
Gregory Campbell's response was a disgrace.  I hope anyone who cast a vote for that man in the recent elections is now thoroughly ashamed of the bigoted sectarian scum who they have elected.
What, sure the ones who voted for him probably think his response was great.
Exactly. His comments aren't an isolated incident. His entire political being is based on this sort of sectarian bullshit. Except in his world it's nationalists that are sectarian. Every person casting a vote for him knows his form. Shame on them.

ONeill

Quote from: pintsofguinness on June 16, 2010, 12:07:35 AM
Quote from: Franko on June 16, 2010, 12:04:30 AM
Gregory Campbell's response was a disgrace.  I hope anyone who cast a vote for that man in the recent elections is now thoroughly ashamed of the bigoted sectarian scum who they have elected.
What, sure the ones who voted for him probably think his response was great.

100%. Anyone with any idea of the craic up knows exactly what's being said indoors on both sides of the divide.
I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames.

Windmill abu

QuoteMiriam O'Callaghan on tonight saying the British Army have a great and honorable tradition. I nearly puked

The Saville inquiry has established that the Parachute Regiment unlawfully killed 13 people on Bloody Sunday.

The individual soldiers who shot these innocent people were acting on orders from their superiors within the regiment and therefore cannot be held individually accountable for the killings (unless the superior officers did not have control of their soldiers).

When the comrades of these killers lied at the inquiry, to protect their comrades, they also contributed to the guilt of the parachute regiment.

This "Elite Regiment" of British soldiers will never face justice from a British Government.

The killing of 18 Members of this regiment at Narrow Water in 1979 brings up the biblical quote of "an eye for an eye"

If any of these elite soldiers had stood up and told the truth about what happened, maybe we could have avoided decades of violence.

And maybe I would not have to wait until I hear what regiment a soldier is from before I feel regret for them and their families when we hear about casualties in Afganistan or Iraq.
Never underestimate the power of complaining

boojangles

May Gregory Campbell rot in hell. He is a sick,evil, twisted sc**bag. I just cannot contemplate how a man can be so bitter but also wonder as Pints indicated, do his thoughts represent the Unionist majority?

Zapatista

Quote from: Franko on June 16, 2010, 12:12:07 AM
Maybe I'm being naive but I would hope that Gregory's response wouldn't be indicative of the broader unionist feeling.

This is all part of the long running Unionist campaign to deter from Saville. It's not new.

Franko

Quote from: hardstation on June 16, 2010, 12:22:19 AM
Quote from: Franko on June 16, 2010, 12:12:07 AM
Maybe I'm being naive but I would hope that Gregory's response wouldn't be indicative of the broader unionist feeling.
Have you ever met any DUPers? Naive indeed.
I work with a 'good living Christian type' UUPer. Discussing this today, he refused to accept the report in the way everyone else has, saying "There are two sides to every story" and "Pointing the finger at one side". Two direct quotes.

'Tis the way of the world.

Fair enough.

Shame on anyone who shares the rotten views of that bastard.