A former sniper was today accused of hiding behind a poor memory to avoid being questioned over shootings he claimed he saw on Bloody Sunday.
The ex-private, known as Soldier 023, claimed to have seen at least two people shot on January 30th, 1972, when 13 civil rights marchers were shot dead by soldiers in Derry. A 14th man died later.
At the Saville Inquiry in London this morning, the soldier said he stood by statements he gave in the days and weeks after the incident and that he could no longer remember much of the events.
He was speaking on what will be the final day of the long-running inquiry before breaking for a two-month summer recess and returning to London in September.
In his statement to Royal Military Police in the days after Bloody Sunday, Soldier 023, who was with the 22nd Light Air Defence Regiment, told how he was on the top floor of a former shirt factory at the junction of Little James Street and Sackville Street and could see down Rossville Street and the Rossville Flats area - where most of the marchers died.
He said he saw a man appear on waste ground opposite Fahan Street with what appeared to be a rifle and that the man twice aimed it in the direction of troop positions.
He said he heard a high velocity shot and the man "seemed to jump in the air and fall back", before being carried away by a crowd.
He also said he saw a man in the window of 57 William Street who was taking aim with a rifle and firing at a point below his own position.
Again he said he heard a shot fired from below his position and the man in the window "fell backwards".
In a second statement, to the Widgery Tribunal investigating the shootings soon after the events, Soldier 023 also claimed to have heard low velocity automatic firing from the Glenfada Park area.
However Arthur Harvey QC, acting for many of the families of the dead or wounded, said all three incidents the soldier had referred to were not corroborated by any evidence.
He asked the soldier why he thought his evidence was rejected by lawyers acting on behalf of the Widgery Tribunal, especially if it had been such "vital evidence".
Soldier 023, the 790th witness in the inquiry, said: "I made the statements 30-odd years ago sir. Then my memory was fresh. Today it is a long time ago, I cannot remember hardly anything".
Mr Harvey said there was no mention of a gunman being located in the area opposite Fahan Street as soldier 023 had claimed.
He said there had been a man targeted by a soldier, known as Soldier U, but he had a pistol not a rifle and had been walking from Glenfada Park north, not the area where Soldier 023 had claimed.
Mr Harvey asked: "Would you accept that whatever view you had, the view of the soldier on the ground over the death of this person would have been much better than yours?"
Soldier 023 replied: "I cannot remember sir".
Mr Harvey said the soldier's evidence was completely at odds with other evidence.
Mr Harvey added: "I suggest to you what is down in your statement did not occur and that what you have done is develop a strategy which best protects you from having to deal with the facts that would establish that what you said in 1972 was inaccurate and wrong".
Soldier 023 said: "You believe what you want to believe, my friend, what I wrote down I am sticking to".
PA