Ex-para shot youth in the back
A former British paratrooper today admitted shooting a youth in the back as he was running away on Bloody Sunday.
Soldier H, who fired the most rounds on Bloody Sunday, said he shot two nailbombers in Glenfada Park, including one young man as he was making his way out of the area.
Questioned by Seamus Treacy QC representing the families, Soldier H at first denied shooting one of the youths in the back.
Soldier H told him he was “100% certain” he did not shoot one of the alleged bombers as he ran from the soldiers.
But Mr Treacy referred him to a statement he made to the Royal Military Police shortly after the shootings when he said he aimed a shot at the young man’s central back.
He quoted extracts from Soldier H’s statement: “He was dressed in a jean suit; that was all I noticed. He picked up an object from one of the youths that had been shot and ran in the direction of the north block of flats across the waste land.”
“The youth when I fired was about 20 metres from me. I aimed my shot at his central back.”
The lawyer again put it to him: “Was that true; did you aim at his central back?”
He replied: “Yes I did sir.”
Earlier, Soldier H denied claims that he acted like a cowboy, firing from the hip on the day that 13 unarmed civilians were shot dead during a civil rights march in Derry.
Mr Treacy asked him: “Do you take the view that you can aim from the hip?”
Soldier H said that he did not regard this method of firing as proper: “It certainly does not, sir, to me that is being a cowboy.”
“I did not loose off any rounds, sir, I fired aimed shots,” he added.
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