Before the trial began, the veteran was brought into the courtroom in the absence of the public and press and placed in a part of the dock surrounded by curtains.
Shots fired by soldiers at unarmed civilians in Derry as they tried to run away was “unjustified”, “unlawful” and “deliberate”, a court heard today.
13 people were shot and killed by the British Army’s parachute regiment following a Civil Rights march in the Bogside area of Derry on the afternoon of Sunday January 30, 1072.
Over 50 years after what became known as Bloody Sunday, the families of those who killed packed into the public gallery of Court 12 at Belfast Crown Court where the case against Soldier F was opened.
The only person to be prosecuted, the former soldier sat in the dock with his identity concealed by a black curtain.
He has been charged with, and has denied, murdering Jim Wray (22) and 26-year old William McKinney. The defendant is also standing trial on five counts of attempted murder – two of whom were teenagers at the time.
As he opened the Crown’s case to Judge Patrick Lynch KC, senior barrister Louis Mably KC said three of those who were wounded and who survived are still alive and will be called as witnesses in the trial to “give their account of Bloody Sunday and how they came to be shot by the British Army.”
The prosecutor said the “key events” on Bloody Sunday occurred in and around the Rossville Street area of Derry and that the “focus” of the trial is concerned with what occurred in a residential courtyard at Glenfada Park North.
Soldier F – who on the day in question was a lance corporal with the Parashoot Regiment – was part of a small group of soldiers who moved into the courtyard.
Fearful at the sight of soldiers in the courtyard, a crowd of civilians began running towards a gap in the corner, and as they fled the soldiers opened fire with self-loading rifles.
Branding this as “unjustified”, Mr Mably said: “The civilians in the courtyard did not pose a threat to the soldiers and nor could the soldiers have believed that they did.
“The civilians were unarmed and they were simply shot as they ran away, or in one case as he was simply taking shelter and trying to evade the soldiers.
“The shooting was unnecessary and it was gratuitous and it was carried out, given the weaponry involved, with intent to kill … or at the least, an intent to cause really serious harm, and once done the consequences were fire.”
Mr Mably described how Mr Wray and Mr McKinney’s bodies were recovered and that post mortems were conducted which proved both men were shot in the back.
He also revealed that in the direct aftermath, two soldiers who had been with F – soldiers G and H – provided witness statements.
Mr Mably said the two soldiers gave a “false account to try and justify what happened” which included falsely claiming those they targeted in the crowd were armed with nail bombs and small rifles.
The prosecutor said that whilst these false claims were “an attempt to justify and confuse”, the statements given by H and G “identified” Soldier F as “having opened fire at the material time.”
He also told the non-jury trial that Soldier G is now deceased and that Soldier H is “neither a defendant nor a witness who will give live evidence.”
Saying that evidence demonstrated Soldier F “and others” shot at civilians as they tried to run away, Mr Mably said there was “no justification” for this as the civilians were “not posing a threat”.
He added: “The prosecution case is that in respect of the shooting, Soldier F is liable for murder in the case of the two men killed and attempted murder in the case of the men injured.”
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