Bloody Sunday soldier says he 'saw IRA gunman kill youth'
An IRA gunman sheltering in a doorway shot a civilian dead at a barricade on Bloody Sunday, a former paratrooper said today.
Soldier U, giving evidence at the Saville Inquiry at Central Hall in Westminster, described in his statement how he saw an arm appear holding a pistol from the Rossville Flats.
The soldier, then a private in Mortar Platoon of the Parachute Regiment, said the gunman blindly fired two rounds in quick succession, injuring an old man in the arm at the Rubble Barricade.
He said one of the bullets killed a young man standing nearby.
“As the other shot rang out (probably the second) the young lad’s head jerked backwards. The impression I had at the time was that the shot had hit him.
“At that moment, the old man turned the young boy round, laid him down and shouted something like ‘he’s dead’. He then wandered away, looking like he was in a daze.”
His statement supported claims by the Army’s legal team that the IRA shot dead some of its own people on Bloody Sunday.
However, there is no evidence of a young man sustaining a fatal head wound at the Rubble Barricade on Bloody Sunday.
The tribunal , which has interviewed more than 800 witnesses, is investigating the events of January 30, 1972 when 13 civilians were shot dead by paratroopers during a Civil Rights march in the Bogside area of Derry. A fourteenth man later died of his wounds.
At least four of the dead were shot dead at or close to the Rubble Barricade built by protesters across Rossville Street in the Bogside.
Soldier U, in his statement described seeing two soldiers picking up bodies from the middle of the barricade, said the sight of one corpse had given him nightmares.
“I have a vivid picture which has stuck in my mind ever since of one of the bodies. He was a young lad and he had been shot in the head. As the soldiers carried him past me, his face was very close to mine and he was looking right at me.”
He added: “His eyes were wide open as he looked at me. I saw small entry and exit wounds on either side of his temple as if the bullet had gone straight past the back of his eyes. I have had nightmares about his face. I could not believe how young he was and how pathetic he looked.”
The former paratrooper also described how he shot a gunman who was among group of people walking quickly from Glenfada Park to Rossville Flats south of the Rubble Barricade.
“Quite suddenly, a guy in the middle of the group stopped quickly to face the Rubble Barricade, pulled out a pistol, raised the pistol in both hands as if trying to get a sight and fired two quick shots.
He added: “I fired one single aimed shot at the gunman. I aimed at the centre of his body and I hit him centrally somewhere.
“He went down immediately. I still have a horrible mental picture of him falling. He was not thrown backwards. It was as if his legs and everything gave way and he just dropped to the floor like a felled ox.”
He also described how he struck a civilian with his weapon while arresting him. Lawyers for the Inquiry identified the man as Charles Canning, who has given evidence how he was beaten and kicked by paratroopers as they forced him into an Army Saracen.
Soldier U denied threatening to shoot Mr Canning or kicking him as he lay on the ground.
