A former British soldier has denied embellishing his evidence to justify his decision to shoot a man in Belfast almost 50 years ago as part of what became known as the Ballymurphy Massacre.
The ex-Royal engineer, who has been granted anonymity, and is referred to in the case as M3, stood by his version of events around during an inquest into the death of Eddie Doherty (31), a father of four who died after being shot on August 10th, 1971.
M3 had been tasked with dismantling a barricade on the Whiterock Road in Belfast during several days of shootings from August 9th to 11th in which 10 people died.
The shootings took place as the army moved into republican strongholds to arrest IRA suspects after the introduction by the Stormont administration of the controversial policy of internment without trial.
M3’s evidence is that he and the Parachute Regiment soldiers with him were met by a hostile crowd at the barricade and missiles were thrown at them. He contends a man threw two petrol bombs at his tractor as he attempted to clear the barricade and had been about to throw a third when he fired a single shot and saw the man fall.
“I was in fear of my life, I thought I am going to die here,” M3 told the inquest.
He also said he saw a man running with a gun and fired a burst of four shots at him.
‘Made up’
Fiona Doherty QC, for the Doherty family, put it to M3 that he had “made up a story to cover up what had happened”.
“It happened exactly the way I remembered it 47 years ago,” he replied.
In response to questions from a barrister for the ministry of defence, M3 said it was the first and only time he ever fired a gun at a human being, and described the experience as “terrible”.
“It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life,” he said, adding he had had “seconds” to make the decision.
Earlier, Ms Doherty put it to M3 that he has embellished his evidence to justify opening fire, pointing to inconsistencies between a number of statements he has made over the years.
“I am going to suggest to you that you are aware the more aggressive and belligerent this person seems to be from your account, the more support there will be for your decision to open fire,” she said.
M3 denied this was the case.
The inquest also heard that M3 had had a “history of dishonesty” at the time of the incident, which included failing to disclose to the army when he enlisted in 1969 that he had been discharged from the Royal Navy, and that he had been convicted in a military court of stealing and cashing a cheque in 1971.
When asked by Coroner Mrs Justice Siobhan Keegan why he was dismissed from the Royal Navy, M3 said it was because he had “borrowed a staff car”.
Fresh inquests were directed into the deaths of 10 people at Ballymurphy following claims that the original hearings were inadequate. They are the latest in a series of new inquests into incidents which took place during the Northern Ireland Troubles.
The inquest continues. - PA