Aoife Moore: Choosing not to hate over Bloody Sunday as hate eats at your heart

Her uncle was killed on Bloody Sunday, long before she was born, but Aoife Moore says it inspired her to pursue truth for a living. In total, fourteen people died after British soldiers opened fire on a civil rights march in Derry in 1972. The impact of one of the Troubles’ worst atrocities is still raw 50 years later

Families of victims who were killed on Bloody Sunday, outside the Guildhall in Derry in 2000 where an inquiry was taking place. Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. Picture: Paul Faith/PA Wire

IN 1972, a bullet from a rifle belonging to a man we have come to know as ‘Soldier F’ ripped through my 31-year-old uncle’s body and changed our family forever.

Patrick ‘the Skelper’ Doherty was shot in the back as he attempted to crawl to safety on the darkest day in Derry’s history. You can see the belt he wore on the day in a museum in the Bogside. A perfect semi-circle blasted through the leather. A perfect shot. The belt lay in my granny’s attic for years, precious evidence for a criminal court case that would never come.