Belfast 1981 victims remembered
A plaque to commemorate the deaths of three people killed by the
Crown forces in 1981 was unveiled at Linden Street off the Falls
Road last Thursday, 26 July.
The unveiling was carried out by members of the families of Nora
McCabe and Peter Doherty, shot dead by members of the Crown
forces using plastic bullets, and of INLA Volunteer Matt
McLarnon, killed on active service by the British Army.
Nora McCabe's death occurred on the morning of 9 July 1981,
within hours of the death of hunger striker Joe McDonnell. She
had just left her sister's house on Linden Street and was on her
way to a local shop to buy cigarettes when she was shot from the
back of an RUC Land Rover.
The RUC, who denied they had fired a plastic bullet in the area
at the time, were later found out. Indeed, the most senior RUC
member in West Belfast at the time, Jimmy Critchley, who was
later promoted, told an inquest in 1982 that he saw two youths
with petrol bombs running out of Clonard Street, which is about
30 yards down the Falls Road from Linden Street, and so ordered a
plastic bullet to be fired. Other RUC members gave similar
evidence.
However, a Canadian camera crew submitted video evidence to the
inquest that showed the incident and completely contradicted the
evidence of the crew of the RUC vehicle. The inquest was
adjourned until the film was investigated.
The film showed the RUC Land Rover stopping at the corner of
Linden Street and the Falls Road and firing a plastic bullet.
There was no evidence on the film of petrol bombs being thrown.
The inquest, resumed in 1983, accepted the evidence of the tape
rather than that of the RUC and ruled that Nora McCabe was ``an
innocent party''. After the inquest, the evidence was presented to
the Department of Public Prosecutions, yet the DPP directed that
there be no prosecutions.
Peter Doherty's death was a similar parody of justice. Shot in
the head by a British Royal Marine, also with a plastic bullet,
Peter died a week after being shot.
The Crown forces had entered the Albert Street area in the Lower
Falls to remove barricades and came under attack from some local
youths. Reports from the time say that at most three petrol bombs
were hurled at the crown forces, who replied by firing plastic
bullets indiscriminately.
One Brit in particular fired a continual hail of plastic bullets.
According to a witness who was in the flat when Peter was shot,
Peter had just warned people to stay away from the window and
went to close it when he was fatally wounded.
The plastic bullet hit him on the forehead and lodged itself
there. He died a week later in the Royal Victoria hospital.
Two inquest juries failed to come to a verdict as they were
unable to agree as to whether or not Peter had been throwing
petrol bombs from the flat.
The woman who shared the flat with Doherty denied British Army
claims that missiles were thrown from the flat and when the
foreman said the jury couldn't agree he asked it to be recorded
that two jurists accepted that no missiles were thrown.
A second inquest, held in November 1982, also failed to reach a
verdict, saying the evidence was inconclusive. The jury asked it
to be noted that the facts were inconclusive because the marine
who fired the fatal shot refused to appear. However, the jury
withdrew its request after the coroner intervened, saying their
rider implied the death had not been fully investigated.
The third person to be commemorated in Thursday's ceremony was
INLA Volunteer Matt McLarnon. The 21-year-old was on active
service when he was shot dead by the British Army in the Divis
Flats complex in the hours after the death on hunger strike of
Francis Hughes. As the mortally wounded man was being taken to
the Royal Victoria Hospital by Knights of Malta ambulance,
British soldiers stopped the vehicle and deliberately held it,
thus preventing McLarnon from receiving immediate medical
attention.
At the time, Matt McLarnon was married with one child and his
wife Rose was expecting a second. That child, Sinead, now 20
years old, represented her family and helped unveil the memorial.
She also laid a wreath in memory of her father.
Sinn Féin councillor Tom Hartley gave the main oration at the
ceremony, which was organised by the Lower Falls/Clonard 1980/81
Commemoration Committee.