Man recalls events of Bloody Sunday

13 people died in Bloody Sunday shootings

A man who was aged 10 on Bloody Sunday has claimed a soldier tried to shoot him as he watched events from a balcony on that day.

Peter Hutton told the Saville Inquiry he later found an indentation on a metal railing inches from where he was standing, when the paratrooper fired towards him 29 years ago.

The tribunal also heard another witness describe a paratrooper being restrained by a colleague as he opened fire in a separate alleged incident in Londonderry on January 30.

Headed by Lord Saville, the inquiry was established to examine the events of 30 January 1972.

Thirteen Catholic men were shot dead by British soldiers during a civil rights march in the city that day. A 14th person died later.

One man, Jack Duddy, was killed in the car park of the Rossville Flats, which Mr Hutton said he was looking down on from an outside balcony.

Balcony

Giving evidence at the Guildhall in the city, Mr Hutton claimed a soldier took up position in the centre of the car park.

He said: "I was standing with my arms on the railings leaning forward when this soldier looked up in my general direction and pointed his rifle up towards me and, as he did so, the railings made an almighty din - but I did not hear any cracking noise.

"There was a sound like a reverberating bell. I remember that there was still no-one else on the balcony at this time."

Mr Hutton said he subsequently inspected the balcony and found an indentation on a railing a few bars to the right of where he had been standing.

He said: "It is my belief that the indentation had been caused by a bullet fired at me by the soldier I had seen."

His evidence was challenged by Edmund Lawson QC, acting for most of the soldiers at the inquiry, who said no-one else had seen a soldier in the position described by Mr Hutton.

The witness replied: "I was a 10-year-old boy, I'm not coming here making up stories. I'm saying what I seen."

Mr Lawson said: "Do you think your 10-year-old boy's memory may be at fault, that your imagination may have taken over?"

He answered: "No chance."

Demonstration

The inquiry also heard from James McGeehan, who claimed to have seen a paratrooper intervene when his colleague was firing from his rifle on the periphery of the car park, lowering the barrel of the weapon to stop him shooting.

He was aged 17 on the day and said he set off on the march with his friend Kevin McElhinney, who was one of those killed.

Mr McGeehan said he split up from the youth during the demonstration and went looking for him later that day, but only learned of his fate the following day from newspapers.

He also described the shooting of Mr Duddy, 17, as he ran across the car park and said: "I remember seeing him falling to the ground like a doll.

"The boy just seemed to collapse and it was like watching him fall in slow motion.

"At that point I thought the boy had been hit with a rubber bullet and I did not realise until I was watching television later, and seeing him being carried by Bishop Edward Daly that this boy was Jackie Duddy.

"I remember the feeling of fear there and feeling afraid of getting caught by the soldiers. At the age of 17 the biggest fear I had was getting caught and fined. At that age I didn't realise the other dangers."

The Bloody Sunday Inquiry has been sitting in public for the past year. The hearing continues on Wednesday.