AFTER 34 years of waiting, justice finally arrived for the family of Aidan McAnespie.
Former soldier David Holden’s claims about the shooting of the 23-year-old walking to a GAA club were dismissed by a judge and he was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence.
Mr Justice O’Hara described Holden’s claim that the shooting was “accidental” due to handling the machine gun with wet hands as “a deliberately false account of what happened”.
Mr McAnespie was killed on Monaghan Road in Aughnacloy, Co Tyrone, on February 21 1988, seconds after walking unarmed through a fortied border security checkpoint while on his way to a GAA club.
He was fatally shot in the back.
Holden (53) denied deliberately aiming the general purpose machine gun at him.
He said his finger was only on the trigger for “seconds’’ and his hands were wet from cleaning duties in the fortified sangar.
He had claimed that after three rounds were fired, he did not know whether anyone had been struck and he could no longer see Mr McAnespie as he had gone round a bend into a “blindspot’’ on the road.
The judge concluded that Holden, who was 18 at the time, had pointed the gun at McAnespie and pulled the trigger, while assuming the weapon was not cocked.
Outside court, relatives of Mr McAnespie stood in tears at the guilty verdict, hugging each other at the news that they had finally received justice for his unlawful killing more than three decades ago.
His brother Sean told the assembled media: “We have been waiting for this for 34 years. We never thought we would get it but we got it. “My mother and father prayed and prayed for this day and they are not here to see it.
“As a family we are very relieved and happy. With the help of family, cousins, the community and relations, they helped us through this. It took the whole lot to get us over the line.”
David Jonathan Holden (53), with an address at Chancery House, Victoria Street, Belfast, had denied the gross negligent manslaughter of Mr McAnespie.
The 23-year-old was killed on the Monaghan Road in Aughnacloy, Co Tyrone, on Sunday, February 21, 1988 seconds after walking unarmed through a fortified border security checkpoint while on his way to a local GAA club. He was fatally shot in the back.
Mr Holden was aged 18 at the time and was serving with the Grenadier Guards from England.
During his non-jury Diplock style trial, the defendant denied deliberately aiming the general purpose machine gun (GPMG) at Mr McAnespie, saying the shooting was "accidental''. He added that his finger was only on the trigger for "seconds'' and his hands were wet from cleaning duties in the fortified sangar.
He said that after the weapon had discharged three rounds, he did not know if anyone had been struck and he could no longer see Mr McAnespie as he had gone round a bend into a "blindspot'' on the road.
Mr Holden also confirmed that Mr McAnespie was a "person of interest'' to the security forces. He checked Mr McAnespie's car registration number and it "came back as a 'tax rep' or 'person of interest' to the military and police. He added: "A 'tax rep' is a terrorist or suspected terrorist.''
In his ruling yesterday, trial judge Mr Justice O'Hara said Holden's "wet hands'' theory was a "significant departure'' from what he told RUC detectives in 1988.
"Whether his hands were wet or not, his explanation in the witness box as to how the weapon came to be fired was entirely unconvincing.
"I do not believe this evidence and I conclude that it is a deliberately false account of what happened.
"I also disbelieve the defendant entirely on two further points. I disbelieve his evidence that the general purpose machine gun needed to be centralised in case it was needed for future use at the precise time that Mr McAnespie, and Mr McAnespie alone, was walking along the road. That is too remarkable a coincidence for me to believe.
"Further I disbelieve his evidence that he did not look to see if the bullets he had fired had hit Mr McAnespie.
"There are numerous reasons for disbelieving that proposition. One: it is one thing to discharge a weapon accidentally, that is bad enough, but to discharge a weapon and injure or kill someone makes a bad situation worse.
"Two: he knew Mr McAnespie was on the road and had seen him a very short time earlier. His movements were being tracked and he was said to be in the IRA. Three: he had a clear view of the road and there was no blind spot as he falsely claimed later.
"Four: the extent of his shock after the shooting is consistent with knowing that someone had been injured.
"It follows from my conclusions that I find the defendant's evidence untruthful when he says he only learned later that night that Mr McAnespie had been killed. I am satisfied that he must have known that Mr McAnespie had been gravely injured because his body was lying in the road which was visible from the sangar.''
The senior judge said he had come to the conclusion "that the weapon was aimed at Mr McAnespie'' and he said he agreed with the prosecution that the defendant aimed the weapon and pulled the trigger deliberately but not intending to cause death and was acting on the assumption that the weapon was not cocked.
"I find beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant assumed that the weapon was not cocked. He knew Mr McAnespie was a person of interest and was tracking his movements. He aimed the weapon in Mr McAnespie's direction who was moving and the only person on the road.
"The defendant deliberately pulled the trigger and to his shock rounds were discharged. He knew he had hit Mr McAnespie as he could see him.''
And he added: "In my judgement he is, beyond any reasonable doubt, criminally culpable (for the death of Mr McAnespie)."
Holden was released on continuing bail and a sentence hearing will take place on January 27, 2023.
