A former British army paratrooper has told the Bloody Sunday inquiry that he has no memory of witnessing the shootings of unarmed civilians in Derry, even though six of the 13 people shot dead in January 1972 on the day were killed "in front of your eyes".
The now retired soldier also told the inquiry that although he heard his then colleagues firing "a couple" of shots in response to 18 incoming shots fired at them, he could not explain his failure to hear 108 SLR bullets discharged by paratroopers after their deployment into the Bogside.
The witness, known as Inquiry 627, told the tribunal that on the day, the situation in the Bogside was one of complete panic with a mixture of rifle and pistol fire and shots from a pump action weapon.
"The gunfire seemed to continue for 10 to 15 minutes," he said. "The firing suddenly stopped. The next thing I remember is walking around the Rossville Flats area with the major [Ted Loden\]. I saw four dead bodies . . .
"I deduced that they had died of gunshot wounds. They could have been killed by soldiers, although I had not seen any of my colleagues firing at civilians, or by civilian ricochet fire," he added.
Inquiry 627 told Mr Arthur Harvey QC, who represents the families of most of the Bloody Sunday victims, that he could not remember seeing anyone being shot on Bloody Sunday.
Asked by Mr Harvey if the soldiers had participated "in a conspiracy of silence, they would leave it up to each soldier to justify what he did and all claim to be absolutely blind and impervious to the events that occurred that day", he said he could not remember.
Inquiry 627 also said that although he was within a couple of feet of soldiers who were firing SLR rifles, he could not remember more than a couple of the 108 army shots being fired.
The inquiry resumes today.