A DERRY businessman and charity worker who had been shot in the face and permanently blinded by a British soldier when aged 10 will this afternoon speak alongside the former soldier who shot him.
It will be first time the two have spoken at a public event since meeting four years ago.
Richard Moore was a schoolboy living in the then “no-go” area of the Creggan in May 1972 when soldier Charles Inness fired a rubber bullet at him while he stood with a group of youngsters. Mr Inness said he had been just trying to “get the kids to bugger off”.
The two will speak at the annual Féile Bríde conference organised by anti-war group Afri in Co Kildare this afternoon. Speaking to The Irish Timesyesterday, they described their experiences and shared reflections since 1972.
Mr Moore spoke of waking up on a school table after being shot, of his fortnight in hospital, of being told by his older brother he would never see again and how, perhaps too young to be angry, he “accepted it just like that”. He was “very lucky” his family expressed no anger, and he was able to avoid being consumed by bitterness.
Mr Inness said he “felt dreadful” when told a day later his actions had injured a boy. He was 30, and had children. “Like anything, with the benefit of hindsight, I would never have fired that shot if I had known what would happen.”
Mr Moore went on to learn Braille and touch-typing, to finish school and study social administration at university. He bought two pubs in Derry with compensation from the British army. He then sold these and founded, in 1996, the Children in Crossfire organisation which supports children in poverty across the world.
In interviews, he expressed a wish to meet the soldier who shot him. A documentary-maker tracked the soldier down in Scotland, and a meeting was arranged. The meeting in 2006 was “incredible” and “magnificent”, they said. They have remained good friends.
Mr Moore said though he had forgiven the soldier many years earlier, it was important to tell Mr Inness in person. “Sometimes things happen that cannot be explained. In Northern Ireland, certainly things happened that would not have happened in a normal society. The innocent suffered most . . . But if we can manage to rise above our experiences, and forgive . . . forgiveness is not for the other person. It’s a gift to ourselves.”
www.afri.ie
www.childrenincrossfire.org
