A Derry woman whose brother was serving in the Parachute Regiment saw a soldier shoot two men dead in cold blood as she watched from the window of a nearby house, according to her evidence to the inquiry yesterday.
Shortly afterwards, Ms Maureen Doherty was told that another brother, Paddy Doherty, had been shot dead by soldiers elsewhere in the Bogside.
Thirteen civilians were shot dead by soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment on January 30th, 1972, and at least 14 others were wounded, one of whom died later.
Ms Doherty's statement to the Saville Tribunal, which is inquiring into the killings, said her brother, Joe, had joined the British army as he could not get work in Derry. He was in the 3rd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment and had served in Belfast.
The family had expected him to be at Magilligan, Co Derry, with his regiment on the weekend before Bloody Sunday when an anti-internment march took place, and Paddy Doherty had gone there to look out for his brother "to make sure he was all right". But it turned out Joe was in Germany at the time.
Ms Doherty said her first reaction on hearing of Paddy's death on Bloody Sunday was one of anger against her brother Joe, as she could not understand why this had happened.
"In fact, my brother Joe found out about Patsy's death through the papers," she said. "He immediately wanted to get out of the army, but had a lot of difficulty doing so. He was given quite a hard time by his fellow soldiers, and none of them would help him move his belongings from the barracks. He has not been back to Derry since Bloody Sunday.
"Although I do not bear any malice against my brother now, I still find it hard to talk about what happened. I do not even particularly bear malice against the soldiers themselves; my anger is mainly against those who sent the army in. I blame Ted Heath then British prime minister." Mrs Doherty described how she watched from the window of a house in the Bogside as a soldier pointed his gun at two men a short distance away, both of whom had their hands up. She heard two shots and both men fell.
"As far as I am concerned these men were shot in cold blood, she said. "They were not doing anything - they had their hands raised . . . My immediate reaction was one of shock. I did not know why the soldier had shot the men. He could so easily have arrested them. They had no guns or bombs." Mrs Doherty's brother, Paddy (31), was shot dead as he tried to crawl to safety in the shadow of the Rossville Flats, less than 100 yards from the house where she was sheltering and looking out the window.
The inquiry was told yesterday she had supplied a statement to the Widgery tribunal, which conducted the original inquiry, but was not called to give evidence.
The Saville tribunal will hear legal submissions today on behalf of a new witness, identified only as "Witness X", who is asking to be allowed to give evidence anonymously and from behind a screen.
The man, believed to be a former paramilitary, is expected to make previously unheard claims about the presence of armed civilians in the Glenfada Park area of the Bogside on Bloody Sunday - an area where at least four of the victims died. He asserts that he could be killed by either loyalist or republican paramilitaries if his identity is revealed.