A former British soldier yesterday denied he fired "an exhibition shot" at one of the 13 unarmed civilians shot dead by paratroopers in Derry on Bloody Sunday.
The now retired Parachute Regiment sergeant also told the inquiry into the January 1972 killings that the target he fired at was a civilian armed with a rifle who was attempting to get into the Rossville Flats complex, around which the killing of 13 civilians and wounding of 13 others took place.
The inquiry had earlier been told that one of the victims shot dead while attempting to enter the complex was Kevin McElhinney (17).
Yesterday, barrister Mr Brian McCartney, counsel for the McElhinney family, accused the witness, known as Sergeant K, of using the youth "as target practice" by firing what he called an "exhibition shot" which was a "piece of cake" at the fleeing teenager.
"He crawled, fighting for his life, a young boy. He worked in Lipton's, stacking shelves, a 17-year-old stacking shelves in Lipton's supermarket, a citizen entitled to the same rights and protection.
"Your duty was to protect that kid, not use him as target practice," Mr McCartney said.
The barrister said that the shot which killed the teenager was fired at a 45-degree angle and hit the youth in the buttocks.
The witness said he would not disagree with Mr McCartney that the trajectory of his shot "complies with the forensic evidence" of the shot which hit Mr McElhinney.
However, Sergeant K said he had no doubt that the man he fired at on the day was carrying a rifle. He was the second of two men he'd seen moving from a rubble barricade towards the entrance to the Rossville Flats.
"I therefore took it upon myself to cock my weapon, aim and fire at the second man who was carrying a rifle. Shouting a warning was not practical with all the noise.
"I fired one shot and the second man lurched, but after a few seconds he continued to crawl. Before he lurched I assumed that I had hit him. I aimed at the broadest part of his body, which is the trunk, being the area between his buttocks and the base of his neck."
When asked by Mr McCartney to acknowledge, in front of members of Mr McElhinney's family who were in the public gallery, that he had "made a mistake", Sergeant K said he "did not make a mistake", and he rejected Mr McCartney's suggestion that his evidence was the result of "a badly thought-out and ill-conceived attempt by you to justify the utterly unnecessary decision to take a young boy's life".
Meanwhile another soldier said he fired at two civilian gunmen, each carrying a rifle behind the same rubble barricade.
The witness, known as Soldier M, also said that two or three low-velocity shots hit the ground beside him shortly after he'd been deployed into the Bogside.
Soldier M said he believed the two gunmen were trying to "reach the sanctuary of the doorway" into the Rossville Flats so that they could "get a good sniping position".
The first gunman had almost reached the doorway when he fired at him. "I fired one shot at him, and I believed that this shot hit him. His body seemed to jerk forward, but I do not know which part of him I hit.
"I did not think of shooting him again and I changed target and point of aim to stop the other man who was crawling behind him and fired one shot at him as well. There was only a gap of perhaps two or three seconds between each shot. I had no idea whether or not I had hit this second man and there was no visible reaction from him to my shot."
The inquiry was adjourned until today.