A civilian witness today described a British soldier firing a rubber bullet at the window of a flat injuring his female friend on Bloody Sunday.
Mr Brian Power, who called himself "a well known rioter" told the Saville inquiry in Derry that he had taken part in the march and had joined in the stoning of soldiers at a barricade in the William Street area.
He said that as people began to retreat he was persuaded by his girlfriend to go to the flat of a friend Ms Mary Smith in Kell's Walk beside Rossville Street.
By this time, he added, the shooting had started.
He said that when Ms Smith went to the window of the flat, an officer pointed in her direction and spoke to another soldier, who swivelled around and fired.
"The rubber bullet shattered the glass. No-one was doing anything and no-one had any hands out of the window.
"It was horrifying. I don't know if the bullet or the glass hit Mary. She was gushing blood and I thought she would lose her eye.
"I rushed to help her and pressed a towel to her face and pulled her into the flat away from the window."
Mr Power said that that Mrs Kathleen Kelly, mother of Michael Kelly, one of the 13 unarmed civilians shot dead, was in Ms Smith's flat in Kells Walk at the time of the incident.
"Mrs Kelly was convinced that her son was dead, although there was no way she could have known about it but I wonder whether it was a premonition," he added.
Tomorrow or Friday will mark the end of oral evidence sessions at the inquiry after almost four years and more than 900 witnesses giving their accounts of what happened on January 30th, 1972.
PA