Saville witness recalls seeing dead man

A man who was aged six on Bloody Sunday today told the Saville Inquiry he saw gunfire and a body from the windows of his home…

A man who was aged six on Bloody Sunday today told the Saville Inquiry he saw gunfire and a body from the windows of his home.

Mr Seamus McConnell (35) recalled being pushed under a bed for his safety but sneaking to watch events from his family home in the Rossville Flats in Derry.

He described "vivid" memories including bullets streaking through the air and a man crawling towards a body lying in blood.

Mr McConnell said he had to pull himself up to peer over the windowsill and saw hundreds of people running away.

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"Above the noise of people shouting I remember hearing the sound of cracks. At the same time I also remember seeing what seemed to me to be lines of sparks in the air, similar to tracer fire," he said.

"Although I did not understand what was happening at the time, when I became older, I was able to recognise the sound of live gunfire. Looking back I am sure that this is what I heard on Bloody Sunday."

Earlier today, an ambulance corps volunteer told how she was shot in the face with a rubber bullet on Bloody Sunday but was protected from greater damage by her gas mask.

She said she and a colleague were running to the aid of someone who was calling for help when an Army Saracen armoured car stopped a short distance in front and a soldier immediately fired a rubber bullet that hit her mask on the left side of her face.

Ms Rosemary Doyle told the Saville Inquiry she had experienced dental problems since suffering the injury in the Bogside 29 years ago.

Ms Doyle, a senior member of the Knights of Malta, also recalled tending to Jim Wray and Michael Kelly, two of the 13 men shot dead on 30th January 1972, and telling Mr Wray's family that night he had been killed.

PA