A former priest described yesterday how he tried to stop three youths running in panic out of a sheltered position on Bloody Sunday.
Prof Terence O'Keeffe, now professor of philosophy at the University of Ulster in Coleraine, said the three had only taken a few steps into the open when a burst of gunfire rang out and they fell to the ground in a row. At the time of the Civil Rights march on Bloody Sunday, January 30th, 1972, he was a Catholic priest and a lecturer in philosophy at the university.
He was arrested with some 30 others by paratroopers and taken to Fort George army base. He described the "brutal and degrading treatment" meted out to prisoners there during more than seven hours of detention.
He wrote a detailed letter of complaint afterwards to Gen Sir Harry Tuzo, the GOC Northern Ireland, describing the soldiers' behaviour as being "a breach of every national and international regulation and convention for the treatment of prisoners". The complaint came to nothing.
The then Fr O'Keeffe, wearing a dark suit and polo neck sweater rather than clerical garb, was on Rossville Street with academic colleagues when he saw army vehicles enter the area at high speed. Soldiers jumped out and took up firing positions and, very quickly, the shooting started.
He said that one of a small group of youths, who were towards the middle of the rubble barricade and yelling at soldiers, suddenly doubled up and fell to the ground.
Four other youths carried him quickly into the cover of the gable wall of Glenfada Park North, where the witness and more than 20 other civilians were taking cover.
Prof O'Keeffe said that, as the soldiers continued firing, another priest, Fr Denis Bradley, anointed the youth who had been shot. He said that as he looked out towards the barricade he saw three more bodies there, and an older man who approached them also seemed to be hit, but was still alive and held his arm up.
Then the young men who were panicking "made a run for it" across Glenfada Park courtyard from the shelter of the gable, and they were cut down when "a further and recognisably separate burst of gunfire rang out", the witness said.
Shortly afterwards a soldier in camouflage raced from the courtyard to the gable wall and pointed a rifle at the group standing there. Prof O'Keeffe said: "His words were dangerously ambiguous - I couldn't tell whether he had said `move and you're dead' or `move or you're dead'. . . It was at that moment that I thought I would be shot."
Other soldiers arrived, all shouting. "They were pumped up with adrenalin and were very aggressive." He was struck several times and told to "shut up" when he identified himself as a priest and asked for permission to attend the wounded.
Prof O'Keeffe was then marched off with the other civilians and taken to Fort George.
Prof O'Keeffe said he had clearly identified one soldier, Soldier F. The witness said: "At that point, `F' came up to me and said `You were throwing stones, weren't you?' I said, `No, I'm a Roman Catholic priest and a lecturer in philosophy and I don't throw stones'. `F' stepped back, paused for a moment and then kicked me very hard in the groin. He said, `You should have been wearing your fucking collar then . . . you were throwing stones and I'm going to charge you'."
The charges against those held at Fort George were later dropped. Mr Edmund Lawson QC, for a number of soldiers, said Soldier F's evidence would be that he no longer had any recollection of the arrests, of Fr O'Keeffe, or of Fort George.
The inquiry continues today.