Bloody Sunday victim's niece continues battle to clear his name

To mark the 13th anniversary of the publication of the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday, a new mural featuring Gerald Donaghey, one of those murdered, was unveiled at Lisfannon Park.

Painted by artist Jonny McKerr, the mural, titled Innocent, included portraits of the 14 people shot dead by the British army in the Bogside on January 30, 1972.

It was unveiled by Gerald Donaghey’s niece and nephew, Geraldine and Denis Doherty, John Kelly, whose brother Michael was also murdered, and the Bloody Sunday Trust.

Geraldine and Denis Doherty at the launch of the 'Innocent' mural in memory of the 14 Bloody Sunday dead.

Addressing those gathered at the mural on Thursday,  Geraldine Doherty said: “The Saville Report, in pronouncing the innocence of all the Bloody Sunday victims, gave comfort to many people. But its failure to fully exonerate Gerald, despite being declared innocent and posing no threat when he was killed, of the blatantly false charge of possessing nail-bombs, broke our hearts.

"I am very proud to be here today to remember my uncle, Gerald Donaghey. I am here to continue my late Mother’s battle for truth and justice. Mary, who fought tirelessly to clear her brother’s name, was a broken woman on June 15, 2010 when Saville failed to address the issue of the nail bombs planted on Gerald’s body by the British army.”

Speaking to Derry News following what was clearly an emotional event, Geraldine, described her mother, Mary, as a “strong powerful lady”.

Niece vows to clear murdered Gerry Donaghey's name

'Mary, we are here today, to remind everyone that your battle to remove the stain on Gerry's good name and reputation continues' - Geraldine Doherty

“It is important for me that people know what really happened inside the Guildhall the day the Saville Report was published and that Gerald is not properly cleared.

“I just hope in my lifetime that stain on Gerald will be removed,” she said.
Paying tribute to her late mother, Geraldine said Mary had “fought and struggled over the years to get the British army to admit it had planted nail bombs on Gerald”.

“But we never held out any hope this would happen,” added Geraldine, “in either the Widgery Tribunal or the Saville Tribunal.”

“I remember being in London at the time and they were doing Gerard’s case.

“Raymond Rogan and Leo Young were driving a wounded Gerald to Altnagelvin when they were stopped at an army checkpoint. Raymond and Leo were arrested and Soldier 027 drove the car, with Gerald in it, to the barracks in Foyle Road.

“Our solicitors asked Soldier 027 on the stand if he had seen anything on Gerald when he was driving the car. He answered, ‘There was nothing on that fella’s body so there wasn’t.

“I would not have put my own life at risk to drive a car with bombs in it’. The Government’s legal team could not get him off the stand after that.

“I was there because my mother was going through chemotherapy. She had cancer and was unable to make the journey. I remember walking out that day and all the solicitors saying, ‘Brilliant Geraldine. You’ve got them. You’ve finally got them’ and I thought, ‘Oh God’. But I still had no faith, even though they all seemed so sure,” said Geraldine.

According to Geraldine, Mary was still going through cancer treatment the day the families went into Derry’s Guildhall to read the final Saville Report, so Gerald’s friend, Donncha McFeely, accompanied and supported her.

“I remember, we were walking in and it was so sombre. We walked from the Museum [of Free Derry] over into the Guildhall Square. Everyone was clapping and I was just numb with worry and shock,” said Geraldine.

“In the lead up to the day, the families were having meetings about how we were going to address the Saville Report. We asked what Plan B was going to be if Plan A did not work. I remember being told, ‘We are not going to need Plan B’ and I remember me and my mother saying to me, ‘Geraldine, we have no hope here if there is no back up for us here’.

“Donncha and I went up the stairs and each family went to their own solicitors. My first words to the solicitor were, 'What about the nailbombs?’ and she shook her head and said, ‘No, Geraldine, they wouldn’t give us that but Gerald got his declaration of innocence’.

“Donncha and I were completely broken at that moment and I remember thinking, ‘How am I going to tell my mother?’”
Geraldine said she then made her way to her family’s allocated table.

“I was in tears. We were broken, poor Donncha too. Leo Young also took it badly. He said, ‘They have made me out to be a liar’.

“Leo had given evidence to the Saville Inquiry because he had been holding Gerard in the back of the car, on the way to Altnagelvin. Gerald was shot and they took him into Raymond Rogan’s house. Raymond’s wife had gone through Gerald’s body to get identification, so they could tell my mother. But she had found nothing on him, only a holy medal. The doctor had then come in and told them to get Gerald to hospital as quickly as possible. As I said, the car was stopped at a checkpoint and they took it away. Leo was devastated and Raymond too.”

Geraldine firmly believed Gerald was scapegoated.

“They had to hang someone out to dry and unfortunately Gerald was the one that was handed over to them,” she said.

“It was not just the Parachute regiment that was shooting that day. Other regiments and the RUC were also involved in the planting of the nail bombs on Gerald.

“I went into the police meetings and when I asked if the planting of the nail-bombs was going to be investigated, I was told it was “irrelevant” as the only thing under investigation were the shootings. Soldier G who shot Gerald was subsequently killed overseas anyway. We were abandoned.

“I felt personally, the families had the right to celebrate. We had fought for so long but I also felt they were afraid to come near us. Everyone was caught up in the moment of their own family member being declared innocent. We were bereft, thinking ‘That’s it’.

“I was standing at the lift in the Guildhall when Mammy came in and she looked at me and she knew it wasn’t a good outcome. I said to her, ‘It’s good and bad. We have Gerald’s declaration of innocence but they would not give us the nail-bombs’.

“Mammy was broken. I got a private room so we could break the news to her, then it was just her and me on our own, everyone else had gone. I asked her what she wanted me to do and she said, ‘We are not going to ruin it for the rest of the families. Hold your head high and go out and we’ll get it sorted and let people know Gerald was innocent afterwards, in own way.”

Geraldine remembered vividly going to the platform in the Guildhall Square and reading out the words: “Gerald Donaghey posing no threat while being shot.”

“Back inside it was a free for all. Mammy just said to me, ‘Geraldine, would you take me home?’ She was heartbroken.
“On the way home, we got a phone call from Alan Healy from the Derry News. He had heard the statement and knew it was not a good outcome for Gerald and us. We did a wee interview with him that afternoon.

“Donncha and Conal McFeely came to our home that night, as did Bishop Daly, to comfort us. Everyone else was celebrating.
“My mother deteriorated from that. The shock and fight destroyed her. But, Saville is a stain on Gerald’s name that needs to be dealt with.

“We have appealed to everyone but, it seems, no-one is going to go up against Saville’s findings. All we can do is hope they correct it some day and put it properly in the history books that the nail bombs were planted on Gerald because, the part of his body where Gerald was shot, he would have exploded if he had been carrying nail-bombs.

“I will keep going till I die. I promised my Mammy. Before she passed she said, ‘You keep fighting for Gerald’. It was tough unveiling the mural but I have very, very good support around me,” said Geraldine.

Offering solidarity to Geraldine Doherty and her family, Kate Nash from the Bloody Sunday March Committee said the unveiling of the new mural to Gerry Donaghey marked the latest stage in the “long trek towards the full truth about Bloody Sunday”.
Kate added: “The report of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry published in June 2010 left a shadow on the memory of the 17-year-old who was gunned down as he fled from the shooting in Glenfada Park.

“This smear that Gerald might have been carrying nail bombs must be removed.

“The fact that justice wasn’t done to all the victims of Bloody Sunday is one of the reasons we continue the annual march.

“We also march to highlight the coverup of the involvement of senior British politicians and military chiefs in the murders. The top brass have been let off the hook. This is not good enough. Justice demands that the men who organised and supervised and then covered the killings are not allowed just to walk away.

“They were direct representatives of the British State. The State must be called to account.”