State Violence (29 page)

I never asked any questions while I was there. I was on a spiritual mission. Anyhow, I knew I would not get answers. I learned, however, that they had been shot at mid-night. What happened? From my experience of writing a book on the SAS, I would ask: Were the weapons discovered and were they staked out? Did the two men come to move the weapons only or to pick them up for an IRA action? Could they have been taken prisoner, considering the soldiers were in a strong superior position? Were they shot without warning, with or without the rifles? Were they shot in cold blood and were the guns then planted beside them? To date, 1997, there has been no inquest and no explanation given. Only the police and soldiers who were present at the shooting know the full truth. Will they tell it?

On my way home my thoughts strayed to a lovely sunny autumn day in 1969. I was visiting the house of the Grew family who then lived in Knockaconey in my parish, a short distance as the crow flies from the scene of this shooting. Mrs Grew was peeling apples at the table. The front door was lying open. Suddenly two schoolboys ran in and pitched their schoolbags in the corner. They seemed delighted to see the priest. They wanted someone on whom they could bounce their ideas and questions. A running commentary on current politics, particularly that of the People's Democracy, flowed from them. I can still see their eager excited faces. Little did I imagine that the same two boys would be shot dead some years later in the ‘troubles' which were then just beginning. Séamus was shot dead along with Roddy Carroll on 2 December 1980 in one of the County Armagh ‘Shoot-to-Kill' killings that were the subject of the Stalker Report. Both men were unarmed. Desmond was shot dead by the SAS on the night of 9 October 1990.

On 30 December 1990 Fergal Caraher was shot dead by the British army in his native village of Cullyhanna, County Armagh. His brother Mícheál was severely injured in the same incident. He was twenty years of age, was happily married to his wife Margaret and was the father of a one-year old son, Brendan. His father Peter John, a local farmer, and his mother, headmistress at the local primary school, are highly respected people in Cullyhanna. The nationalist population regarded the killing as part of the Shoot-to-Kill policy of the British government in Northern Ireland. The killing so affected the local community that they formed the Cullyhanna Justice Group in March 1991. With the aid of the Irish National Congress and other groups they organised an inquiry into the shooting. The inquiry, held in Cullyhanna, was made up of five international jurists chaired by Michael Mansfield, QC. Its aim was to inquire into the fatal shooting and wounding and also look at the Shoot-to-Kill policy. Four jurists found that there was ample evidence to charge the soldiers with murder and all the jurists raised questions about the Shoot-to-Kill policy. Mr Mansfield withheld his findings because of news he received from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Twelve days after the launch of the jurists' report two Royal Marines, L. Cpl Richard Elkington (25) and Marine Andrew Callaghan (21), were charged on 5 February 1992 with the murder of Fergal Caraher and with attempting to murder Mícheál Caraher and causing him grievous bodily harm. On 23 December 1992 the two soldiers were acquitted. The soldiers from 45 Commando claimed they fired twenty shots at the brothers' car at a checkpoint to save another soldier they believed was being dragged away on the bonnet of the car driven by Mícheál Caraher. The Lord Chief Justice, Sir Brian Hutton, said he could not rely on the accounts given by the civilian witnesses for the defence or on those given by the accused and Marine B. He said the scientific evidence gave some support to the claim that the soldiers opened fire because the car hit Marine B and carried him off on the bonnet. He said he had to acquit them because he had a reasonable doubt of their guilt.

Reporting on their work over two years, before the trial, the Cullyhanna Justice Group, published the following account of the incident:

‘On Sunday 30 December 1990, the car of Dr Donal O'Hanlon broke down in the South Armagh village of Cullyhanna. As he tried to fix it, two locals, Liam Murphy and Mícheál Caraher, drove past and, seeing him in difficulty, stopped and assisted him in trying to re-start the car. Oliver McArdle, a qualified mechanic, arrived and succeeded in fixing the car. Oliver and the doctor then left.

‘As they drove off, Mícheál's brother Fergal drove up in his white Rover. He got out to pass the time of day to his friend and brother. A patrol, consisting of four member of the British army, appeared and began questioning the three. They asked their names and addresses and checked the registration number of both cars. The patrol then left.

‘After a brief discussion the three agreed to go to Dundalk in Liam Murphy's car. Fergal decided to leave his car in the car park of the local bar, the “Lite ‘n' Easy”.

‘As Liam followed behind he remembered that he was to leave his car with his wife who was in the local shop a few hundred yards past the car park. He explained the problem to Mícheál. He told him he would drop him off at the car park where he could tell Fergal that they would take the white Rover and he himself would meet them further down the road. Approaching the car park, both cars were waved through a British army checkpoint.

‘When he parked his car Fergal was approached by a soldier. Mícheál then arrived to tell his brother of the new arrangements. Fergal asked the soldier, ‘Are we right?' The soldier nodded. Mícheál decided to drive the car. He pulled out of the car park. Several of the soldiers then opened fire on them without warning. Both brothers were hit within seconds of each other. Mícheál, seeing the condition of his brother, continued driving in an effort to find a doctor. Liam Murphy and Jimmy Quinn, who had heard the shots, followed the car and found it about half a mile down the road.

‘Fergal Caraher was pronounced dead at 4.20pm on arrival at Daisy Hill Hospital, Newry. Mícheál was rushed to the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, where he underwent emergency surgery.

‘That night the British army, through the RUC, released a statement implying that the car had failed to stop at the checkpoint and that two members of the British army patrol had been knocked down, one of whom was carried some distance by the car.

‘The next day several eye-witnesses made statements to a local solicitor contradicting the British army's statement of events. At the funeral of Fergal, his father made a public statement that the family was not satisfied with the statement from the authorities. He called for an independent public inquiry'.

This evening we have gathered together to remember, in a loving and spiritual way, Fergal Caraher aged 20 years shot dead by the British army Royal Marines Regiment a year ago today. In the same shooting his brother Mícheál was severely injured. Tragedies come to us as they came to God's own Son unbidden and unwanted. A tragedy is an occasion for deep and anguished faith. In the past year Fergal's parents, wife and brothers and sisters have had to offer to God a weight of grief and tears. Our prayer for them throughout the year has been that the Spirit of God's consolation would enfold them in his loving arms and strengthen their faith in the immense happiness, glory light and joy that surrounds Fergal in the everlasting life. May eternal light shine upon him.

Whilst we tread our pilgrim way here on earth we must live in charity, truth and justice. The great torch light procession we have seen here tonight not only reflects the 345 people killed by security forces but all the deaths. The death of any human person diminishes us all. We are all aware of the great mountain of suffering of all bereaved people in this sad and too long a conflict. There is an emphasis, however, this evening on this category of deaths by government forces because the tight control of media by the British government authorities attempts to hide the truth that more than half of these 345 deaths were unjust killings and sometimes murder. There has been no redress or justice for the families of victims of government killings. The cover-up not only includes senior officers in their forces but also civil servants, judiciary bodies and elements in the British cabinet.

On the night of 14 August 1969 John Gallagher was shot dead by ‘B' Specials in Armagh. The Scarman Tribunal was able to unravel the facts relating to this fatal shooting. Justice was not done. Twenty-two years later no one has been charged with this unjust killing. The rot set in then and the government has followed a policy of lies and cover-up in similar shootings. It is my belief that there is a government policy not to injure the morale of their security forces and so the crimes of army and police are covered up and they receive protection. The only time they weaken in their resolution is when the media shames them into cosmetic action by the sheer weight of facts. Would six members of the Parachute Regiment have been charged with the killing of two teenagers and the wounding of a third a year after the incident if a BBC
Panorama
programme had not highlighted the facts to the public? Seventeen people including eight children have been killed by rubber and plastic bullets fired by lethal weapons and over 100 have been seriously injured. Any other government would hang its head in shame at these unnecessary and tragic criminal acts and would withdraw the use of these death-dealing missiles. The plastic bullet gun has never been used in riots in Britain. This underlines the contempt the British government has for the Irish people.

The Irish people should strongly urge that front-line regiments like the marines and paratroopers should not be sent in the rota of British forces service in Ireland. The build-up to the shooting of Fergal Caragher was a litany of harassment, verbal abuse, beatings and threats to the lives of citizens. This was tolerated by RUC authorities. Inevitably it ended in tragedy. The same scenario of pre-killing harassment was evident in the run-up to the shooting by the paratroopers of unarmed people like Brian Smith in Belfast and the teenage joyriders in 1990.

British forces have shot armed people when arrests could have made due to control of a situation. This happened for example at Coagh, Loughgall, and Drumnakilly.

There is a long list of men, women and children, unarmed persons who have been unjustly killed and some murdered.

Most sinister are the shootings of Catholics by loyalists acting in collusion with security forces like Loughlin Maginn and Pat Finucane. In the past two years 14 people have been murdered in the south Derry/ east Tyrone region by loyalists. Collusion is suspected. The success rate of the RUC in charging people for these murders is nil. That must be the worst statistic for vigorous investigation of any police force in the world. The murders of Catholics by loyalists in the Craigavon region and the absence of prosecutions there tells a similar story.

Add to these deaths the killings by the SAS, an assassination squad acting outside the law and the vulgarity of praise bestowed on them by government ministers for their bloody deeds.

Public opinion should call on the British government as a democratic right to have the law changed so that the Deputy for Public Prosecutions should give his reasons for his decisions not to prosecute in cases of disputed killings. We must be able to see behind the scenes what is going on. This is a matter of charity, truth and justice so that we can bring peace to our country.

The serious problem that the police force in Northern Ireland is drawn from only one section of the community must be faced. London and Dublin should set about setting up a second level police force which will also draw from the nationalist community; it is up to them to work out a solution to the complexities involved.

In the absence of fair play at home we must seek international help on the occasion of every fatal shooting carried out by the security forces. In that line the Cullyhanna community has to be commended for bringing Fergal Caraher's death to the attention of the world. Their new-found expertise will be welcomed in other areas of the north. Furthermore we must encourage the non-governmental human rights' bodies to set up teams of experts – legal, medical and forensic who will fly quickly to emergency situations here and give immediate help to local communities in their investigations, since they have no trust that the RUC vigorously and urgently carry out investigations into the shootings of people by the security forces.

The system of coroners' inquests must be urgently reformed. They are unfair. Bereaved relatives are denied elementary standards of justice. The families should have access to legal aid to secure proper legal representation. They are unable to penetrate the veil of secrecy surrounding information on how their loved ones came to die. Because the outcome can influence subsequent civil or criminal proceedings the government authorities make sure they have a strong legal team. The dice is loaded against the relatives. A campaign to reform the system of inquests is necessary in the name of justice so that the public can have an idea for themselves that proper investigations are taking place and chances of a cover-up can be avoided. For bereaved families inquests in the north of Ireland lead to distrust and give minimum satisfaction.

This is an extract from the pamphlet
Collusion 1990–1994: Loyalist Paramilitary Murders in North of Ireland
published by Relatives for Justice, 1995. It lists murders committed by loyalist paramilitaries 1990–1994 and specifies those caused by South African weaponry.

For twenty-five years the counter-insurgency methods of the British government in Northern Ireland has involved a Shoot-to-Kill policy, in direct ambushes when both innocent victims and suspects have been shot dead without warning, and in a sinister indirect campaign of murder which involves manipulation of loyalist paramilitaries who are provided with security information and who then kill with the knowledge that they are free from prosecution. This policy is pursued by small groups of RUC personnel and British army and the secret intelligence network of MI5 and MI6. A section of the Northern Ireland administration is aware of this policy, protects it by withholding information, insincere cosmetic investigation, non-prosecution and curbing of inquests. The families and friends of the victims not only suffer the insult of cover-up and lies but they often become targets for harassment and abuse from the British army and the RUC. They seek redress in publicising the truth to the world and will not cease to bring their grievances before governments and international human rights' bodies.