Inquiry hears how injured man was killed

Thirteen people died in Bloody Sunday shootings

A witness has told the Bloody Sunday Inquiry that he saw a wounded man being shot and killed as he lay on the ground.

Malachy Coyle was giving evidence to the Saville Inquiry at Londonderry's Guildhall on Thursday.

The inquiry is investigating the events of 30 January 1972 when paratroopers opened fired on civil rights marchers in Londonderry killing 13 men.

Another man died later.

Mr Coyle said he was hiding behind a fence in Glenfada Park when Jim Wray, who had been injured and was lying on the ground, looked up and called out "I can't move my legs".

'Scary'

Mr Coyle said he then heard a shot, saw sparks underneath Mr Wray's body, and knew that he had been shot and was dying as he groaned and his head fell to the ground.

Mr Wray and another man, William McKinney, died in the square of Glenfada Park North, the scene of the most serious allegations about paratroopers' actions that day.

Another man, Joe Mahon, was wounded and fell beside Mr Wray and Mr McKinney.

Mr Coyle, who was 16 in 1972, also said one of the soldiers in Glenfada Park was more frightening than the other men.

"The others didn't have the same menacing presence as this boy. This boy was really scary," he said.

Lord Saville: Heading inquiry

Earlier Mr Coyle said he had seen events unfold on the day from the back yard of a house with another witness, John McCourt.

He said he believed Mr Wray had been hit in the spine by the shot which knocked him to the ground.

The autopsy on Mr Wray showed he had been hit in the vertebrae by one of two shots.

Mr Coyle said: "He looked up. His body did not move. He looked up at us. He saw us through the slats (in the fence) and he said, "I cannot move my legs, I cannot move my legs".

"He let out a groan and the head went down quite slowly onto the pavement.

"He did not move after that."

Alan Roxburgh, junior counsel to the inquiry, asked Mr Coyle if the injured Mr Wray found it difficult to call out given his injuries.

Mr Coyle said he was surprised at how clear he sounded.

"It was not slurred, it was not forced, it was more anguish than anything else," he said.