The Belfast trial of paratrooper Lee Clegg, accused of murdering teenager Ms Karen Reilly, yesterday heard evidence from an RUC man on patrol with him the night the 18-year-old was shot.
Clegg's defence had claimed Constable Ronald Gibson's evidence about seeing one soldier being kicked by another after the shooting was inadmissible. But trial judge Mr Justice Kerr refused the application.
The RUC man told Belfast Crown Court that on the night of September 30th, 1990 he had gone on an "anti-joyriding patrol" with Clegg and 15 other soldiers in the Glen Road area of west Belfast. He said they abandoned a static checkpoint after one joy-rider managed to drive through it and were walking city-wards when he heard a car approach from his rear. Mr Gibson said the car "stopped abruptly", revved its engine then accelerated forwards, travelling down the middle of the road. Realising the car was not going to stop he moved to the side of the road until it had passed. He then tried to note its registration number and while doing so shooting came from behind him.
"I got down to the ground. I was looking around me. I remember looking over my shoulder to the soldier who was behind me on the right-hand side of the road. He was in a standing firing position. "I looked to the opposite side of the road. I could see the remaining members of Victor-Zero-Alpha. I could see them standing in the aiming position and I could see flashes coming from their weapons," he added.
Asked by Mr Reg Weir, prosecuting, if the car had endangered either himself or any soldier, Mr Gibson replied "No, my lord". When asked if it had hit any soldier, he said "definitely not". Mr Gibson said after the shooting he began jogging down the road, but stopped on hearing shouting behind him, thinking it was directed at him. "I heard part of the shouting. I heard words that sounded like, `get down, you're it'. I might not have heard, `get down' but I heard `you're it'," the RUC man said. He added that he then saw a soldier come up to another soldier and "kick him on the leg". Mr Gibson said he later made a statement to his authorities, but two days later made a second written statement to clear up inaccuracies in his first, made he said, through an "error of judgment".
The trial continues today when the RUC man will be cross-examined by the defence.