Witness tells of trauma of brother's death

A brother of Michael McDaid, who was shot dead at the age of 20 on Bloody Sunday, yesterday described the devastating impact …

A brother of Michael McDaid, who was shot dead at the age of 20 on Bloody Sunday, yesterday described the devastating impact of the death on his family.

Mr Kevin McDaid, who was 16 at the time, gave evidence of his own narrow escapes in the shooting and of how the family began to panic when Michael failed to return home in the evening.

It was after 9 p.m. when a local priest came to the house and told them Mickey was dead, he said.

"My mother died just over two years ago; however, she might as well have died when Mickey did. Every anniversary of his death was terrible for her and, unfortunately, she was not alive to hear of this new inquiry being set up.

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"I have never heard anyone say a bad word about Mickey. He worked in a pub, but he did not drink or smoke. He was not at all political. At the inquest into his death the coroner, (Major Hubert) O'Neill, who was ex-army, said that Mickey's death was pure unadulterated murder.

"When he gave the verdict, that gave us hope. However the Widgery tribunal (in 1972) did not work out like that. Everything at Widgery was brushed under the carpet."

Michael McDaid, the second-youngest of a Bogside family of 12, was shot dead by soldiers at the rubble barricade in Rossville Street.

The inquiry continues today.