A witness at the Bloody Sunday Inquiry told today ofSinn Féin's Mr Martin McGuinness "recoiling in shock" as he was told of the British Army shootings.
Mr Eamonn Deane also told the Saville Inquiry that most people knew Mr McGuinness was a senior member of the Provisional IRA at that time.
"I was left with a clear impression that he did not know what was happening in the Bogside at the time when the shooting began," Mr Deane said of meeting Mr McGuinness that day.
Mr Deane, who was then a 28-year-old schoolteacher, said he had known Mr McGuinness all his life, having grown up in the same neighbourhood.
He met him with other republicans on Westland Street, south of the scene of the deaths, within "a very few minutes" of the troops opening fire both from the north and the city walls in the east.
He stated: "We were perhaps one of the first groups of people who had come away from the area where the shooting was taking place.
"We could still hear the shooting at this time and Martin McGuinness asked me what was going on. I told him the Brits had come in and were shooting people. I recall Martin McGuinness's reaction was one of shock and disbelief."
Questioned by Mr Gerald Elias QC, acting for some of the soldiers, he added: "I do remember him recoiling in shock. I may have said something, but I don't recall it."
PA