Irish Republican News · November 24, 2003

Bloody Sunday Inquiry latest

A woman today told the Bloody Sunday tribunal today she saw four civilians fall after a British soldier raised his rifle and aimed towards the rubble barricade in Rossville Street.

Ann Gallagher, who was 19 in January 1972 when 13 unarmed civilians were shot dead by members of the Parachute Regiment said she sheltered in her aunt's flat in the Rossville complex as the shootings took place.

Ms Gallagher said as she looked out of the living room window she saw a soldier in nearby Glenfada Park North.

``I have a very definite impression that the soldier, who was dressed in the same way as those I had seen earlier in the waste ground, raised his rifle in the direction of the men by the rubble barricade and fired,'' she said.

She said the next few seconds appeared to be in slow motion.

``The three young men to the south of the rubble barricade stopped moving and lay on the ground fairly close to each other.''

Ms Gallagher said she saw a fourth older man crumple to the floor about 12 feet away from the young lads.

``The atmosphere in my aunt's flat was chaotic and I remember my aunt screaming hysterically, `He`s hit. He`s hit`.''

Three young men, Michael McDaid, William Nash and John Young were all shot dead at the rubble barricade on Bloody Sunday. Mr Nash`s father Alexander was wounded as he went to the aid of his son.

Ms Gallagher said the next thing she remembered was seeing soldiers throwing three bodies into a Saracen parked in Rossville Street.

But she did not know if the men thrown into the back of the vehicle were the same young men she witnessed being shot by the barricade.

``The three men were thrown into the back of the Saracen like cattle but I did not think at the time that they might be dead.

``I thought they had been injured and arrested and remember thinking that they would get a good kicking in the barracks that evening.''

INQUIRY TO CONTINUE

The Bloody Sunday inquiry is continue into the New Year, it was confirmed today.

Tribunal chairman Lord Saville said it would not be possible to conclude all the evidence by December 19th, the date on which it was hoped to finish.

The chairman added that there would come a time when the process of taking evidence had to end because the inquiry could not last indefinitely.

But he said it be wrong to treat the target date of December 19th as a cut-off point. The inquiry will resume after Christmas on Monday January 12th 2004.

Lord Saville said he could not say how long it would sit after that as it would depend on how long the process of taking statements would take but it was likely to be a number of weeks.

Today was the 401st day of the Inquiry.

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