'Brutalised 'claims of McGuinness's former brother-in-law
A one-time brother-in-law of Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness, who was jailed in America for attempting to import a missile to Ireland, claimed at the new Inquiry into Bloody Sunday he had been ‘‘brutalised’’ by events that day 29 years ago.
Joseph McColgan maintained he had never been a member of the IRA, had no knowledge of Mr McGuinness’s alleged involvement in the Provisionals, and had never discussed events of January 30 1972 with the now Mid Ulster MP and Northern Ireland Education Minister.
Under examination from Counsel to the Inquiry, Christopher Clarke QC, he admitted having been jailed for four years in America in 1990 after being convicted of trying to import a Stinger missile, having been ‘‘entrapped’’.
However he repeatedly challenged questions on the subject and said: ‘‘I am not here to discuss it, I came here to discuss Bloody Sunday. What subsequently happened in America, I do not see it has any relevance to the Inquiry.’’
Mr McColgan denied involvement in assisting the IRA to obtain arms and, asked if he was involved in assisting the IRA to obtain the Stinger missile, answered: ‘‘I was brutalised on Bloody Sunday.’’
Mr McColgan, who was the boyfriend of Mr McGuinness’s sister on Bloody Sunday and married her the following year, was arrested by troops on Bloody Sunday, the day 13 Catholic men were shot dead in Derry’s Bogside when Paratroopers opened fire following a civil rights march.
Mr McGuinness has been alleged at the Inquiry to have been a high-ranking member of the Provisionals on Bloody Sunday possibly even its Commander in the city.
An MI5 agent known as ‘‘Infliction’’ has alleged Mr McGuinness fired the shot which sparked off the gunfire claims emphatically denied by the leading republican.
