Two people were shot and seriously injured by a British army sniper in Derry on the day before Bloody Sunday, it emerged yesterday. At least one of them was later paid compensation in an out-of-court settlement.
Army radio transmissions and RUC records suggested at the time that a nail-bomber had been shot, but statements submitted to the present inquiry by the two men assert they were both innocent passers-by in the vicinity of a daytime riot. Neither was interviewed by police or charged.
The statements provided by Mr Peter Robson and Mr Peter McLaughlin to the inquiry are among more than 30 from witnesses whom, it was announced by the chairman, Lord Saville, yesterday, the tribunal does not at present intend to call to give oral evidence.
However, Lord Saville said the tribunal had read these statements and they would be put on the inquiry's website.
The separate statements by the two men shot on Saturday, January 29th, 1972, indicate the shots were fired early in the afternoon in the William Street area by a soldier stationed on the roof of the Embassy Ballroom, a high building in the city centre.
Mr Robson's statement says he was aged 16 at the time and had gone into town to buy trousers. On his way home to the Creggan, he took a short cut through waste ground off William Street and came upon a man who was about to throw a nail-bomb.
"He shouted at me to get out of the way, and I think he may even have thrown the nail-bomb past me," Mr Robson's statement says. "I have no idea who or what he was throwing it at."
He says that as he went farther on he stopped and talked to friends, heard a shot and saw Peter McLaughlin, whom he knew, fall to the ground.
He went to help him and, as he crouched over him, he felt "a thump" in his back. He realised he had been shot, and he was subsequently taken to Altnagelvin Hospital.
"I spent two or three weeks in Altnegelvin . . . but I was never asked by either a policeman or a soldier to give a statement," he says.
"As a result, my father took the British army to court and we settled on the steps of the court for £3,000.
"During the litigation, I found out that I had been shot from the Embassy Ballroom with a 306 [sic] rifle. I also discovered that the soldier was from the Anglian Regiment. I have always believed that Peter McLaughlin was shot by mistake and that the soldier was aiming for me thinking that I was the nail-bomber."
Mr McLaughlin says in his statement that he was aged 33 at the time and had gone to a baker's shop in William Street. As he came out, he could hear the sound of trouble farther down the street, but wanted to avoid it and headed in the other direction.
He heard shots fired and saw people dive to take cover. However, he stood at the entrance to the waste ground facing east, and could see a soldier on the Embassy Ballroom who appeared to be looking through binoculars towards him.
He says he heard what he presumed to be another soldier say: "Shoot the man standing there, shoot him," and as he turned away he was knocked to the ground by a bullet.
He had an operation in Altnagelvin Hospital and remained there for about two weeks. "Two plainclothes detectives stood outside my room . . . but they never spoke to me," he says. "I was never interviewed about being shot by the police or the army."