Dramatic evidence that one or more of the Bloody Sunday victims may have been arrested by paratroopers and shot dead minutes later was outlined at the inquiry in Derry yesterday.
As Mr Christopher Clarke QC, for the tribunal, continued to summarise eyewitness material concerning the deaths and injuries at the barricade in Rossville Street on January 30th, 1972, startling new material emerged about the fatal shooting of Mr Michael McDaid (20).
Mr Liam Lynch, who knew Mr McDaid, has told the inquiry he saw him being held by two soldiers and led to a Saracen (APC) which had been driven up in Rossville Street. He was not resisting, he said.
Counsel said the tribunal would have to consider the possibility that, shortly before he was shot, Mr McDaid had been arrested and put into an APC from which he escaped.
Mr Joseph Begley, in statements made at the time, said he saw Mr McDaid and another man marched to an APC.
Mr Frankie Boyle, a neighbour of Mr McDaid's, said Mr McDaid was dressed smartly in a shirt and tie and stood out. Mr McDaid had thrown some stones "then went towards the soldiers". He was arrested with two or three others and thrown into a Saracen close by. ". . . a soldier fired CS gas inside. About two or three of the lads, including Michael McDaid, escaped from the back. They were choking on the CS gas.
"Michael McDaid ran away from the Saracen towards Rossville Street. When he was about 20 yards away from the Saracen, I heard a bang and saw him fall to the ground . . ."
Ms Alice Doherty, a Knights of Malta volunteer at the time, said she and another volunteer, Mr Leo Day, had approached a Saracen in which she had been told there were three people dead or injured. A small, stoutish soldier was at the rear doors.
"Leo Day asked [him] if there was anything we could do to help. He replied that there was not. He had an English accent. The door of the Saracen was not closed properly . . . Leo Day and I glimpsed three bodies inside, piled on top of one another like meat. The boy on top was dressed very smartly . . ."
She opened the door and saw the feet of the boy at the bottom "give a slight twitch" and "Leo Day saw this movement, too. One or both of us said words to the effect that the boy was still alive.
"The small soldier kicked the door shut again and told us that we were not allowed to look inside. Then he lifted up his rifle and poked the barrel through a flap in the side of the Saracen and fired three shots inside . . . He said something like: `They are dead now', or `They will not make any more noise now'. He seemed very pleased with himself and said triumphantly: `That is the end of the Fenian bastards'."
Mr Clarke also read from an article by Joe McAnthony in the Sunday Independent of February 6th, 1972, which quoted witnesses. One, Mr Bernard Gilmore, said that after CS gas was fired into the APC, two of the youths "spilled out" and were stopped.
"According to Gilmore the soldier spotted the third boy running and shouted something like, `Do not let that bastard get away', then he turned quite deliberately and shot the two boys, both of whom had their hands on their heads and one of whom was crying."
The report said Mrs Mary Friel also said the two boys got out and did not try to get away but were shot down at a wall close by.
A former Royal Navy man, Mr Joseph Donnelly, in a statement read yesterday, describes how he was shot at as he carried the seriously wounded youth, Michael Kelly, across Glenfada Park as three paratroopers entered.
"Michael Kelly was still alive, and my sole concern was to get him to safety. As I got hold of him, I noticed that one of the soldiers was taking up a firing position . . . and was aiming towards us.
"All three soldiers fired shots at the crowd . . . Bullets were flying past me . . . I was in no doubt that I was running for my life."