Fight for justice not over yet

Six months after Robert McCartney’s killing, the IRA’s commitment to end violence means little to his loved ones still persecuted for their battle for justice, writes John Breslin.

IN the deliberations over the timing of this week’s statement, one wonders whether the IRA leadership factored in the fact its members murdered Robert McCartney’s exactly six months ago.

In the weeks following the murder at the end of January, after the five McCartney sisters and Robert’s partner started their battle for justice, the IRA issued an unprecedented three separate statements.

That revealed how seriously the organisation viewed the impact of his death, particularly the demand made by the family that the police in the North be free to do their job and that those responsible should face the courts. This demand struck at the heart of the IRA’s self-styled role as dispensers of justice.

Thursday’s IRA statement also meant the expected rush of media stories marking the six months since the murder never materialised.

Paula McCartney, Robert’s sister, said: “I think everyone knows that the statement was coming out at some point. I imagine that Robert’s murder speeded up that process.”

However, the family needs clarification and wonders whether the statement really gives witnesses to the murder the green light to approach the police without fear of retaliation.

“They have told their volunteers not to engage in any other activities whatsoever. But what if they do, what happens. Does that mean they are subject to the rule of law and does that include the police?” said Paula, speaking yesterday from the home in Belfast’s Short Strand that she has put up for sale.

Now committed to be democratic and peaceful, the IRA won’t even be able to offer to shoot transgressors, as it did in one of three statements issued following the murder.

Robert McCartney was beaten and stabbed to death outside Magennis’s Bar close to Belfast city centre at the end of January. The bar was packed with republicans, including 12 members of Sinn Féin, many of whom had been in Derry for the annual Blood Sunday commemoration.

There was a cover-up and intimidation of witnesses. For nearly two weeks, the McCartney family held their counsel. Then they spoke out and have since told their story to audiences across the world, including the White House, where they were special guests of President George W Bush.

In Belfast, there is a deep vein of cynicism that runs through people and a wariness of those who stand up and speak out.

One long-standing Short Strand resident, hugely supportive of the McCartneys, said: “People have taken umbrage against them. They question the audacity to turn round and speak against their own. It’s basically ‘Who the f**k do they think they are.’”

The resident, who did not want to be named, added: “It’s very sad that our society still thinks that way because everybody has a right to justice.”

That may partly explain why Paula is moving out of the Short Strand, a small nationalist enclave in loyalist east Belfast, and plans to move to the south of the city, to an entirely mixed area.

Bridgeen Hagans, Robert’s partner and mother of their two boys, is also moving out. She is living in the home where Robert and his five sisters grew up. They bought the house four years ago.

Earlier this month, Bridgeen’s house was attacked. Petrol and paint bombs were hurled at the house where Bridgeen and her sons Connolly, four, and Branden, two, were sleeping.

“There have been more subtle acts of intimidation,” said Paula. Three weeks ago, one of those involved in the clean-up/cover-up operation walked up to Bridgeen’s and put a leaflet through the door.

“On another night, crowds gathered outside and walked up and down,” she said.

Paula herself cannot even go to the shops for fear of meeting her brother’s killers. The IRA might have ordered the downing of arms yesterday, but those involved in the murder, and the cover-up, are still walking around the Short Strand today.

And they still have their reputations. They still can instil fear and they are still supported by their comrades, according to Paula.

“It’s only a minority of people doing this, those involved in the murder, their friends and relatives, but they are a very powerful minority.”

There are IRA supporters and Sinn Féin activists disgusted at the actions of a number of powerful republicans in the area but who, through fear and pragmatism, have kept quiet. None would speak publicly.

Alasdair McDonnell, who was elected as MP for South Belfast in May, said: “Even Sinn Féin, IRA sympathisers are angry at the thuggery. This goes back years, the underlying resentment that Sinn Féin has failed to take these people to task.”

It took a murder to peel back and reveal the simmering resentment to the rest of the country.

But it wasn’t just any murder. No-one will speak ill of Robert McCartney. He was, it is widely accepted, a decent man, a good father and a good worker. It is said in Belfast that if Brendan Devine, a career criminal and self-confessed drug addict, had died, it would have been entirely different. The cover-up would have proceeded with few hitches and little publicity.

One man has been charged with the murder of Robert McCartney, while a second has been charged with the attempted murder of Devine, who last month was sentenced to six years in prison for armed robbery.

Paula believes there are at least three other people who have not been charged but who were directly involved in his death.

“Two people are in custody out of five murderers. We are not satisfied. We will continue to fight for justice,” she said.

If Robert is the last person to be killed by members of the IRA, that would be a “fitting tribute”, said Paula.

However, she added: “It’s far too high a price for us to pay, it does not compensate us in any way.”