Former IRA man denies firing gun in the Bogside
The ex-paramilitary known to the Saville Inquiry as OIRA6, insisted he was not armed on the day that 13 civilians were shot dead by members of the Parachute Regiment.
Notes from a Sunday Times journalist have been submitted to the Inquiryclaiming that OIRA6 was seen “running around mad with a pistol all afternoon”and that he “fired very, very early” in the Glenfada Park area.
OIRA6 said: “I did not have a pistol with me on the day. I was not armed. Iam asked whether I had a personal weapon. The answer is ‘no’.”
It has been claimed that at the time of Bloody Sunday, the Official IRA had adopted a policy of defence against the Army. However, the former IRA volunteer, now aged 60, told the Inquiry that he would have taken every opportunity to shoot at soldiers if they patrolled the streets of Derry.
“The Official IRA were in a war with the British Armed Forces and the British Government. That is end of story,” he said
He was asked by counsel to the inquiry Cathryn McGahey about the evidence of OIRA1 who has admitted firing at the soldiers from flats in Columbcille Court.
OIRA6 told the Inquiry: “To be quite honest with you, I am quite gladsomebody did on that day, after the killings.”
In his statement, he told the Inquiry that he was a member of the Creggan unit in 1972.
He added that he was probably one of the oldest IRA volunteers in the city at the time.
A couple of days before Bloody Sunday he was told by his section leader thatthere were to be no guns on the day of the march.
“Having been told that any volunteer who wanted to go on the march could go, I decided to attend,” he said.
He said he walked with the main crowd down Rossville Street and was sitting on a wall having a smoke when he was aware of people running down the street.
“I did see that it wasn’t just the young fellows who were running; everybody was running and they were squealing and shouting that the Army were shooting.”
OIRA6 said he did not see any Army vehicles enter the Bogside or hear any shooting.
“I had no thoughts of trying to meet up with any other volunteers. My thoughts were to get away from the area and my thought was to get to the area of the Bogside where I thought I would be safe,” he added.
