An Irish Guardsman who was bullied by his colleagues discharged his rifle during a pre Christmas party in a British army base in Cookstown, Co Tyrone, a court was told yesterday. Guardsman Rodney McNamee (22) fired a total of 17 bullets, one of which struck a fellow guardsman in the thigh. Two other soldiers were hit by flying masonry.
At Cookstown Magistrates Court, McNamee, a native of Co Tyrone, was fined £650 and ordered to pay compensation of £1,500 on charges of assaulting the three Guardsmen. On a charge of possessing a loaded firearm under suspicious circumstances, he was fined £300.
Mr Geoffrey Millar, prosecuting, said the incident occurred on November 25th last year. At an earlier VE day commemoration, McNamee had been physically sick and this had resulted in him being teased by Guardsmen.