The significance of yesterday’s damages settlement to Bloody Sunday victim, Michael Quinn cannot be over-estimated.
The court concluded that Mr Quinn and “all the victims were innocent victims.” It acknowledged the admission of “assault, battery and trespass to the person” and that no attempt was made to defend the soldiers responsible.
Mr Quinn’s settlement follows the Saville conclusions that the dead and injured were innocent and then Prime Minister, David Cameron’s conclusion that Bloody Sunday was “unjustified and unjustifiable.”
While the families of the dead and the wounded have opted not to comment publicly, many said privately yesterday that it was an important step towards their ultimate aim of achieving absolute justice for their loved ones.
Mr Quinn’s settlement was the first of four test cases in the civil damages claims. Mr Quinn’s injuries were singled out to represent the surviving injured. In the coming days, the cases of Peggy Deery (the deceased injured), Michael McDaid (single men who were killed) and Gerry McKinney (married men who were killed) will be heard.
Mr Quinn was just 17 years’ old when he was shot through the mouth with a high velocity bullet. That he survived is a miracle. He suffered terrible injuries which condemned him to a lifetime of pain and difficulty.
The damages payment of just under £200,000 – while it may be legally correct – cannot come close to compensating Mr Quinn for what he suffered. Bloody Sunday families who spoke privately yesterday were at pains to stress that the court action was never about money.
In 1972, the Bloody Sunday families were paid a small amount in compensation. Paid “ex gratia without admission of liability,” the small payments were considered an insult by the families. So much so that some even gave the money away to charities in Derry.
Throughout their campaign, first for a new inquiry and now for those soldiers responsible to be tried for murder, the payment of compensation has never been the aim of the families. The Bloody Sunday families see yesterday’s compensation as further emphatic proof that the dead and wounded were innocent and thereby should be treated as innocent victims.
The families believe that the next logical step in acknowledging the absolute innocence of the victims is the prosecution of those responsible for the deaths and injuries.
