McCartney sisters insist courts must deal with killers

THE family of Belfast father of two Robert McCartney yesterday insisted they wanted a court to deal with their brother’s horrific murder.

In a statement they also revealed that during a meeting with the IRA on March 5, the Provisionals said there was no reason for the forklift driver’s murder.

Following an IRA offer to have the killers shot, they insisted: “For this family it would only be in court where transparency and accountability prevail that justice will be done.”

The family were commenting after a man expelled by the IRA over the murder outside a Belfast city bar on January 30 was being questioned by detectives.

In their statement, Mr McCartney’s sisters said it was their belief that 12 IRA members were involved in the cover-up around the murder. They also believed three people were involved in the actual killing.

The sisters also confirmed: “We met with the IRA at their request on Monday, March 5. During that meeting we were informed of the findings of their investigation to date but again it is only in a court that the truth will come out.

“At the meeting (Robert’s partner) Bridgeen (Hagans) asked the IRA representative a question that has been haunting her and the family for five weeks: why did they kill Robert? They responded openly and directly that there was no reason.”

The sisters said they wanted the investigation to be conducted through due process. They noted that five weeks had passed since their brother’s murder and no one had come forward with substantial evidence.

They added: “This must be due to ongoing intimidation and fear.

Senior Sinn Féin negotiator Gerry Kelly said the party supported the family’s position and insisted the IRA statement was positive.

“The IRA statement should have removed any concerns witnesses might have still had about coming forward,” he said.

Following a meeting in Limerick with Ann McCabe, the widow of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe who was gunned down by an IRA gang in 1996, SDLP leader Mark Durkan said lessons should be drawn from how the five sisters of had handled the Provisionals.

“The governments should take a leaf from the McCartney five sisters and his partner Bridgeen Hagans, who have stated there are very clear and fair standards of justice which paramilitaries must adhere and adjust to,” he said.

“Until now paramilitaries have acted as if everyone else should adjust their standards, that we all should end up subscribing to their mindsets. That is why people like Ann McCabe feel such disgust at what has happened to them.”