NO COMPENSATION FOR BLOODY SUNDAY

Posted by Jim on September 29, 2018

A damages payment to a survivor of the British Army’s Bloody Sunday
massacre is being seen as a step towards the goal of achieving real
justice for the victims, rather than compensation.

Thirteen people were shot dead when British Army paratroopers opened
fire on civil rights demonstrators in the city in January 1972. One of
the others wounded on the day died later.

The payment was the first of four test cases in the civil damages
claims. Michael Quinn’s injuries were singled out to represent the
surviving injured.

The court acknowledged that Mr Quinn and “all the victims were innocent
victims”. It also noted that no attempt was made to defend the soldiers
responsible.

Michael Quinn was just 17 years’ old when he was shot through the mouth
with a high velocity bullet. He suffered terrible injuries which
resulted in a lifetime of pain and difficulty. He told the court how he
felt an “explosion” of bone and blood when was hit while trying to run
for cover.

The payout also includes recognition of the “oppressive, arbitrary and
unconstitutional” cloud of suspicion which was maintained by British
officials over Mr Quinn and the other victims for decades, until the
Saville Inquiry established the innocence of all those killed and
wounded.

In 1972, the Bloody Sunday families were paid a small amount in
compensation. Paid “ex gratia without admission of liability,” the small
payments were considered an insult by the families. Some gave the money
away to charities in Derry.

In the coming days, the cases of Peggy Deery, Michael McDaid and Gerry
McKinney will be heard. The families have been at pains to stress that
the current court action is not about money.

Now aged 63, Dublin-based Mr Quinn recalled in his evidence being a
17-year-old A-level student who had gone with friends to the march. But
after the British Army started firing he fled from the Rossville Street
area amid growing fears at the unfolding events. He told of seeing a
soldier emerge from behind flats, looking in his direction and place a
bullet in the breech of his rifle. He then crawled and ran into Glenfada
Park North in an attempt to take shelter.

While there he saw the body of Michael Kelly, one of those fatally
wounded, being carried. As others began to surge into the area, shouting
that soldiers were coming in, Mr Quinn headed, crouched down towards an
alley. He had just made it over a raised area when the bullet hit him.

“It felt like someone had given me a very hard punch to the face,” he
told the court. “Just below my eye I could physically see droplets of
blood and bone and skin exploding from my face.”

He continued: “It felt like slow motion as it was happening, I could see
also that someone else was falling beside me. I saw his head hit the
pavement, he hadn’t put out his arms to break the fall.”

That man turned out to be James Wray, another of those killed, who had
asked Mr Quinn to help carry the civil rights banner earlier in the day.
Mr Quinn managed to stumble on until he was brought to a first aid post
and then taken to Altnagelvin Hospital.

Ahead of the start of the hearings, the families were disappointed that
they had to go to court and relive the events of the day before securing
a settlement, despite their complete exoneration by the Saville Inquiry
and the subsequent apology by the then British Prime Minister, David
Cameron

Outside court, Mr Quinn’s lawyer, Fearghal Shiels, said: “No amount of
money could compensate Mr Quinn for the physical and mental scars that
he has carried with him every day since 1972.

“This action, and the apology by David Cameron, was an inevitable
consequence of the Saville Report and the unambiguous declaration of
innocence of all of the victims of Bloody Sunday.”

The families believe that the next logical step in acknowledging the
absolute innocence of the victims is the prosecution of those
responsible for the deaths and injuries