The retrial of Paratrooper Lee Clegg for the murder of Ms Karen Reilly (18) continued at Belfast Crown Court yesterday.
Clegg, who described the teenager's death as a `tragedy", repeatedly maintained he fired on the stolen car in which she was a passenger because it struck another soldier, Pte Chris Aindow.
"Unfortunately, it's a tragedy, you know, that a young girl and bloke died. It's tragic, and I don't want to deviate from that at all. But this happened that fast and it [the car] struck Chris, and I opened fire," said Clegg.
Mr Reg Weir QC, prosecuting, questioned Clegg about bullet hole No 18, the only one in the wing of the stolen Astra. Asked why the bullet was found to be a "tracer round" and could not have been the last shot he fired, Clegg replied: "Well, obviously I am mistaken, ain't I?"
"Mistaken or caught out?" asked Mr Weir.
"Mistaken, that's how I saw it that night," answered Clegg.
Clegg suggested that when he fired three shots, the first two being "tracer rounds", at the car windscreen they must have missed, and one must have hit the wing. He last shot, which he aimed at the wing, must also have missed. But he could not understand how the forensic evidence showed he had fired before the car presented any danger.
"I can't understand this, and if this car hit Chris, and that's when I opened fire, then I can't understand this," Clegg said.
Asked if it would be possible, on the forensic evidence, that he fired before the car hit the soldier. Clegg agreed: "On the forensics, yes, it must be possible".
"So what does that tell us?" asked Mr Weir.
"Nothing, sir," said Clegg.
The trial continues.