A man who was believed for 30 years to have been shot and wounded by a soldier on Bloody Sunday was not struck by a live bullet, the Saville Inquiry heard today.
Independent pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd told day 229 of the inquiry in Derry's Guildhall that the "highest possibility" was that Mr Patrick McDaid was hit by a "doctored rubber bullet".
Mr McDaid, who was 24 at the time, was struck in the back near the Rossville Flats in Derry on January 30th, 1972 on the day 13 civilian civil rights marchers were shot dead in the city.
Dr Shepherd, a senior lecturer at the Forensic Medicine Unit of St George's Hospital Medical School in London, said he was "confident" that the wound was "not caused by a lead bullet" after examining the original pathological and ballistic evidence.
He said objects which could have caused such a slicing wound to the back of Mr McDaid's left shoulder included an old penny, other metal discs, or parts of a battery.
Under questioning from Mr Alan Roxburgh, counsel to the inquiry, Dr Shepherd referred to a statement he had submitted to the inquiry regarding Mr McDaid's injury, which pointed to many statements from soldiers and eye-witnesses which said baton rounds were modified or "non-standard" objects were fired from baton round guns.
"We are of the opinion that Patrick McDaid was not struck by a bullet," the statement said.
"Objects that could cause such a slicing wound include a penny, other metal discs, the top or bottom plates of a U2 type battery and we understand that these items were attached to or fired in place of baton rounds in Northern Ireland in the period of time around Bloody Sunday."
Original forensic tests had indicated black particles found around the entry wound were lead particles. However Dr Shepherd said no "material suggestive of black particles can be seen in the photographs of the wound".
He added: "The black particles might be explained by the disc being contaminated by either the contents of the battery or by soiling of a penny if it were placed against the charge in the baton round gun."
Questioned by Mr Barry MacDonald QC, acting on behalf of Mr McDaid and others, Dr Shepherd said that any metal object could have caused the wound.
"I think pathologically the only thing I can say is that it was ... a sliver or disc of material that has been propelled, given the list that I have on that report ... which clearly documents that doctored rubber bullets were used, then that remains a possibility and I think it has to be the highest possibility."
Dr Shepherd spent several hours giving testimony to the inquiry detailing complex technical information.
The inquiry will continue tomorrow with the testimony of Mr Kevin O'Callaghan, Dr Shepherd's co-author of the report on the pathology and ballistic evidence following the Bloody Sunday shootings.
PA