Family: Republicans not to blame for taximan killing
Republicans were not involved in the murder of a taxi driver shot dead in Northern Ireland, his family claimed today.
Barney McDonald was ambushed as he waited in a cab outside a snooker club in Donaghmore, near Dungannon, Co Tyrone, last week.
It is understood the 51-year-old had been in a bitter dispute with republicans in the area, causing his devastated family to immediately blame them.
But as they joined with police chiefs today in an appeal for information, relatives insisted they had ‘‘no idea’’ who was responsible.
In a further twist the Red Hand Defenders, a cover name used in the past by the Ulster Defence Association and Loyalist Volunteer Force paramilitary organisations, claimed they carried out the shooting.
Detectives have called on anyone who was in Mr McDonald’s taxi last Wednesday to come forward.
The murdered man’s brother-in-law has offered to act as an intermediary for anyone reluctant to talk to the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
The Red Hand Defenders’ claim is still to be probed by detectives.
