A witness suggested yesterday that his brother-in-law and another man were shot and wounded at an early stage on Bloody Sunday in a deliberate effort by the British army to "draw fire out" from the IRA.
Mr John Duddy, whose sister was married to the late John Johnston, said Mr Johnston had not even been on the Civil Rights march that day and was on his way to visit an elderly acquaintance when he was shot in the area of William Street.
Aged 59 and smartly dressed, Mr Johnston was an unlikely target, Mr Duddy said, adding: "My personal opinion . . . is that he was sacrificed in order for the army to draw fire out."
Although he was released from hospital after treatment for his wounds, Mr Johnston developed other medical problems and died seven months later. He is generally regarded as the 14th fatal victim of Bloody Sunday. Mr Duddy, who was then aged 48, described a heated altercation with a soldiers as he and other family members tried to drive to Altnagelvin Hospital to see Mr Johnston. Soldiers stopped them, pulled them out of the car and asked him where they were going. "I said: I'm going to the hospital to see my brother-in-law who you bastards shot. One soldier then said to another: 'That bastard stands for four hours'."
He was spread-eagled against railings of St Eugene's Cathedral and searched. A Welsh soldier was giving him some abuse. Mr Duddy said: "I think I may have sworn at him and he said to me, 'Only there's too many here, you'd be a dead man'." The soldiers left after apparently receiving an order by radio to pull out. Mr Charles McLaughlin described going out to the rubble barricade in Rossville Street to help a youth who had fallen. The youth, believed to have been the late Michael Kelly, was too heavy to lift and he shouted at a group of people huddled against a gable wall, watching him.
"I shouted: Christ, will you come out and f .....g help me? A man I now know to be Father Bradley came out to help. I remember feeling embarrassed when I realised I had just sworn at a priest," he said.
Bullets were whizzing down Rossville Street and as they lifted the youth, he saw blood start to seep through the front of his shirt.
"Until then I had thought that the soldiers had just been firing over people's heads. I was shocked when I realised that the boy had been shot," Mr McLaughlin said.
Having carried the youth to shelter, he decided to escape from the area. He ran through Glenfada Park North and, as he did, he saw two paratroopers. Both soldiers were firing as they advanced.
"I was aware of a couple of dozen other people also running through the courtyard trying to avoid the bullets," he said. "Bullets were splitting the wooden fence to my left. I feel I was very lucky that I was not shot that day." The inquiry continues today.