Two linked families who lost members of three generations, including two unborn children, in the Omagh bombing of August 15th, 1998, yesterday issued a joint plea to the bombers.
"We would ask, even beg, for an assurance from those who had any part in the bombing of Omagh to make sure that no such act would ever be contemplated again," said the Monaghan and Grimes families in a statement read on their behalf at the inquests on three of their loved ones.
The evidence concerning the deaths of Mrs Mary Grimes (66), her daughter, Mrs Avril Monaghan (30), and Avril's 18-month-old daughter, Maura, was taken together at the hearing in Omagh. The inquest was told that Mrs Monaghan was about 34 weeks pregnant with twin girls when she died.
Mr Barry Fox, solicitor for the Monaghan family, told the coroner he would make further submissions later this week concerning the status of Mrs Monaghan's unborn twins. The family is seeking to have them declared full parties to the Omagh inquests, which would raise the official total of fatalities from 29 to 31.
Ms Sharon Robinson, who worked in S D Kells's shop, told the inquest she had served a grandmother and a pregnant woman with a young child, and she told them of the bomb scare.
They started to move towards the door of the shop, the pregnant woman carrying the small girl on her shoulder.
At that point the bomb exploded. Ms Robinson said she afterwards counted the bodies of nine people in the shop, including the three she had spoken to.
Prof Jack Crane, State Pathologist for Northern Ireland, gave evidence of carrying out a post-mortem examination on the body of Avril Monaghan. He said death was due to multiple injuries.
Asked by Mr Fox if it would have been possible for the twins to have survived for a short time within the womb before they succumbed, the witness said that clearly, once the mother died the twins were going to survive only for minutes.
Asked if they could have been delivered immediately, and possibly survived, if expert medical facilities and assistance were instantly at hand, Prof Crane agreed that that was a possibility.
Medical evidence was given that Mary Grimes died from multiple injuries, including severe head injuries, and that the baby, Maura Monaghan, also died from head injuries.
The coroner said that, looking back over 30 years of troubles and atrocities, he could not think of another family which had suffered the scale of loss that this family had suffered, with the grandmother, mother, daughter and healthy unborn twins "all murdered in an instant".
He expressed his deep sympathy to the families, "and my sense of complete outrage that this tragedy should have happened to them".
Mr Edwin Colton, solicitor, read a joint statement on behalf of the Monaghan and Grimes families. In it they expressed their thanks "to the hundreds and thousands of good people from near and far who, in so many ways, have done their utmost to help, comfort and sympathise with us in those first and dreadful days after the bombing".
The statement added: "Unfortunately there are other aspects in the aftermath of the catastrophe which we found unhelpful and in some cases quite hurtful. We refer to the weekly, if not daily, reference in the press and in most news items, the families of the 29 victims of the bombing, when in fact 31 lives were lost.
"The unborn twins would at this time be preparing for their second birthday. We object to being misquoted in the press and of having made statements at meetings when in fact we were not present nor did we speak to a reporter. We further object to statements made by any group that claims, as we read in the press, to speak for the families of the 29 victims of the Omagh bombing when in fact we never belonged to such a group."
The statement also said: "We feel sure that those of our families whom we have loved and lost would ask for nothing more than that we live on friendly terms with our neighbours and work together for peace and goodwill in our community, throughout this land and over the whole world.
"We would ask, even beg, for an assurance from those who had any part in the bombing of Omagh to make sure that no such act would ever be contemplated again."
The hearing was adjourned until tomorrow morning.