Soldier denies waiting for opportunity to shoot

A soldier who claims he shot two gunmen on Bloody Sunday today denied he entered the nationalist Bogside area of Derry waiting for the opportunity to shoot civil rights marchers.

Barry MacDonald, QC, representing most of the families of the deceased and injured, suggested anyone in the area was liable to be seriously assaulted or shot by soldiers just because they were there.

But Soldier O, a former sergeant in the Parachute Regiment, denied this and told the Saville Inquiry in London that paratroopers intended to arrest as many rioters as possible on January 30, 1972.

The former soldier admitted troops cocked their weapons before they emerged from their armoured cars on the day 13 civil rights marchers were shot dead. A 14th man died later.

Mr MacDonald asked the soldier: “You personally cocked your weapon ready to shoot people, did you not?”

“Not ready to shoot people, I cocked my weapon so that I could defend myself if the need arose,” Soldier O replied.

“How were you going to do that with a round in the breech?” Mr MacDonald asked.

“By shooting people eventually. Defending myself, not going in there to shoot people,” he replied.

Mr MacDonald asked: “You cocked your weapon in your pig before you crossed the military barrier in order that you could shoot people as soon as the opportunity arose?”

“That is not correct,” the soldier replied.

Mr MacDonald put it to the soldier that he and his colleagues entered the Bogside with rounds in the breech “ready to fire on civilians”.

“Not ready to fire at civilians, with a round in the breech, there was no reason to fire at civilians,” the soldier replied.

Mr MacDonald suggested soldiers were not concerned about the dangers to civilians.

“No, that is not true,” he replied. “The weapon is perfectly safe with the safety catch applied, whether there is a round in the breech or not.” Soldier O earlier told the inquiry he fired a total of eight shots at three different gunmen on Bloody Sunday.

The soldier said he returned fire after coming under attack from a number of gunmen in a carpark near Rossville Flats.

Soldier O said he was shot at about 20-30 times from several positions in the flats before he fired three shots at a man armed with a pistol.

He said the gunman fired six rounds at him from behind a red Cortina, before the soldier struck him with two of three shots, hitting him in the centre of the chest.

Soldier O said within minutes he then fired another three shots at a man who fired a rifle at him from Block 3 of the Rossville Flats, probably hitting him in the head.

The soldier said he also fired two rounds at a third gunman but he believed he missed as he went around a corner and out of sight.

The former sergeant, who received the Queen’s Commendation for Brave Conduct and the Military Medal during his service, was in the second armoured car which entered the Bogside on Bloody Sunday.

Soldier O is the 737th witness to appear before the Saville Inquiry, which is examining the events of January 30, 1972 when 13 civil rights marchers were shot dead by soldiers in Derry. A 14th man died later.

The inquiry, which usually sits at the Guildhall in Derry, is currently hearing the evidence from military witnesses and others in London because of concerns for their safety.

Lord Saville of Newdigate and the Commonwealth judges accompanying him on the Bloody Sunday inquiry began their work nearly four years ago and are not expected to report back until 2004.