The family of a man killed on Bloody Sunday have lodged judicial review proceedings over the decision not to charge former paratrooper, Soldier F with his murder.
Father-of-six, Bernard McGuigan (41) had reached the safety of Derry’s Rossville flats on Bloody Sunday when he heard the dying Patrick Doherty crying for help.
Witnesses said he stepped out from his shelter waving a handkerchief intending to go to Mr Doherty’s aid when he was shot in the head and died instantly.
Pictures of Mr McGuigan’s body covered with the official Northern Ireland Civil Rights’ Association banner (now in the Museum of Free Derry) are among the most graphic of Bloody Sunday. Mr McGuigan was the last person shot dead on the day.
Soldier F is already facing murder charges in relation to the killing of Bloody Sunday victims, Jim Wray and William McKinney. He is also facing charges in relation to the attempted murder of Joe Mahon, Michael Quinn, Joseph Friel and Patrick O’Donnell who were all shot and wounded.
Last year, the family of a fourth victim, Michael Kelly (17) also instigated judicial review proceedings over the Public Prosecution Service’s (PPS) decision not to prosecute Soldier F with his killing.
In a statement issued through their lawyers, Mr McGuigan’s family said they were seeking the judicial review following “an exhaustive process” stretching back over the last two years.
This culminated last month when the PPS confirmed that an undertaking given to the Saville Inquiry that evidence could not be used in criminal proceedings did not apply to the 1972 Widgery Tribunal.
“The PPS now advise our solicitor that it’s not contended by the PPS that the express terms of these undertakings apply to the oral evidence given by Soldier F to the Widgery Tribunal. While we welcome that form confirmation at last, the PPS still contend, in effect, that F was acting ‘under orders’ to give evidence at Widgery,” the McGuigan family said.
As far as the family was concerned, they believed the evidential test was met in respect of the murder of their father in such “callous well-known circumstances” and witnessed by others, including other soldiers.
The next hearing of Soldier F’s case is scheduled for Derry Magistrates Court on March 15.
