McCabe remembered in new mural
``To die young is an injustice, for we never expect the young to die. Death, coming before its expected time, is inexplicable and heart wrenching. But to die young because of an injustice adds to the pain of this unbearable loss and becomes an unbearable weight on family, friends and community. When the injustice of such a death is sustained through injustice, the memory of the dead becomes a place of emotional distress and anxiety. We are unable to celebrate the memory of a life that enriched our existence. Rather we are haunted by the injustice; our pain is never allowed to heal.''
So said Sinn Féin councillor Tom Hartley at the unveiling of a new mural to commemorate Nora McCabe, the 33-year-old West Belfast woman shot dead by as an RUC plastic bullet in 1981.
A senior RUC officer, superintendent, Jimmy Critchley, was in the Land Rover from which Nora was killed, yet the RUC denied that any of their patrols were in the area at the time. When TV footage was produced to disprove the RUC claim, the RUC and the British state ignored it. No member of the RUC has ever been held to account for this killing.
Over 500 people attended the unveiling of the new mural on Sunday 9 July, the 19th anniversary of Nora's death. The mural is on the gable wall of the Relatives for Justice offices on the corner of the Falls Road and Islandbawn Street.
Among those attending the ceremony was Nora's husband, Jim McCabe, and their three children, Paul, Jim and Aine, who was only three months old when her mother was shot dead.
The mural also remembers the 16 other people, including eight children, who were shot dead by rubber and plastic bullets.
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