AN eyewitness has told the Ballymurphy inquest how he heard the last words of mother-of-eight Joan Connolly after she was shot in the face.
John Maguire (84) told the hearing into the deaths of 10 people in west Belfast between August 9-11 1971 how he heard 44-year-old Mrs Connolly crying "I can't see, I can't see".
Mr Maguire said he had been talking to friends on the Springfield Road on August 9 shortly before shooting began from a nearby army base where members of the Parachute Regiment were stationed.
Taking cover behind a pillar at the entrance to an area of waste ground, he said he watched as 44-year-old Danny Teggart was shot in the back while running.
Mr Maguire said Mr Teggart, a father-of-13, was unarmed.
Describing Mrs Connolly, Mr Maguire said she cried out "I can't see, I can't see" after being shot, saying he believed her voice had weakened before she lost consciousness.
He said shooting continued despite his friend, Tommy Delaney, waving a white hanky on a stick.
Mr Maguire described how after a while an armoured vehicle drove through the gates into the waste ground and a soldier emerged and fired shots towards where he and others were hiding.
He said he ran through a hole in a hedge, adding: "I though he was going to pick us off. I was very frightened."