The public inquiry into the 1972 Bloody Sunday killings resumed in Derry's Guildhall yesterday and heard further eyewitness evidence on the cluster of victims who died in the vicinity of the rubble barricade in Rossville Street.
The tribunal, chaired by Lord Saville and Commonwealth colleagues, Mr William Hoyt from Canada and Mr John Toohey from Australia, will tomorrow hear legal submissions concerning applications for anonymity on behalf of five former Official IRA men who have been asked to provide an account of the role they played on the day.
More than 270 civilian witnesses have already given evidence at the inquiry into the events of Sunday, January 30th, 1972, when British soldiers shot dead 13 people after a Civil Rights march and wounded as many more, one of whom died later.
A witness yesterday described how 17-year-old victim Hugh Gilmour passed within feet of him in Rossville Street just seconds before he died. Mr Don Carlin said that during the firing by the soldiers he sheltered just inside the entrance door to Block 1 of the Rossville Flats. He noticed Hugh Gilmour running past, heading south along Rossville Street.
He continued: "As he passed he said to me `I am hit, Don, I'm hit'. He ran past the door to Block 1 and went around the corner . . . I now know that he fell there and died."
Mr Carlin said that he could "swear on the Bible" that Mr Gilmour, whom he knew quite well, had nothing in his hands as he ran past.
The witness said he then went upstairs inside Block 1 and came across another victim, 17-year-old Kevin McElhinney, lying on his back on the first landing. It was obvious to him that the teenager was dead.
Mr Carlin, who lived in Block 2 of the flats, decided to return there to check that his wife and children were OK. He crawled along the balcony on his stomach to the doorway of his flat.
He said he was certain that no nail bombs or petrol bombs were thrown on the day, and he was not aware of any being in the area.
Another witness, Mr Ronnie Ballard, described taking shelter behind a low wall in Rossville Street when the firing started.
The inquiry continues today.