McGavigan's vow to 'keep fighting for truth'

Derry schoolgirl Annette McGavigan (14) was shot and murdered by a British soldier on September 6, 1971.

Just a fortnight after her 52nd anniversary, Annette’s brother, Martin, told Derry Now the McGavigan’s and other families would “keep fighting” until they got the truth about their loved ones. “We will keep banging on doors.”

Annette McGavigan (14) shot and murdered by a British soldier on September 6, 1971.

Annette’s sister, May, described her as “an angel”. 

Third in the McGavigan family, May added: “Annette was so good. She would never do any wrong or say anything bad against anybody. She would always have been out in the street playing with the younger children. She was just an angel.

“That day, we had got out of St Cecilia’s because of a bomb scare. We came out of school and we came down home. We lived in Drumcliff Avenue.

“I can’t remember where Annette went but I remember being in the house with my mammy and Mena, my oldest sister. Mena wanted some fruit and mammy asked me to go to the shop to get her a banana. 

“So I went over to the shop and on the way down this girl stopped me and said, ‘May, there’s a wee girl shot over there in Lisfannon Park’. I went back to the house and told my mammy and she said, ‘God help her poor mother and father whoever they are’.

“Our Mena went over to see what was happening and she came back with Fr Daly, as he was then, and a whole crowd and then it was just mayhem.

Vividly recalling the fateful day, Martin said: “I was standing at Free Derry Wall. There used to be an old house there, Joe McColgan’s. We used to call him the Block Man. Across there there was a green and Barman Duffy used to sit there and draw. Me and a friend, John Carlin, were playing and this girl came running across the green and she said, ‘There’s a wee girl shot dead up there’. So we ran up towards the house.

“The house Annette had been taken into was Nell Meenan’s. Nell was my mother’s bingo mate. Someone in the house told me to go over home. We ran across Cable Street and the next person I saw standing at the door was May Cussack, another of my mother’s bingo friends.

“She asked me what was wrong and I said, ‘Our Mena or Annette has been shot’. I went into the house and Fr Daly was there. I remember the crowd in the house. 

“Then me and our Tony were taken over to an uncle’s of mine in Prehen and the next I remember was being brought back for the funeral and there were just thousands of people around us.

“I was 11. There was mayhem. My mother and father were breaking their hearts,.”

Poignantly, Martin said Annette’s death has a “horrible” effect on the family.

“What sticks out in my memory to this day is my mother standing at the hotpress, where she kept the newspaper clippings about Annette’s death ‘The 100th victim’ and Annette’s blood-stained clothes, the school uniform she was wearing when she was shot,” he recalled.

“My father always went over to the mural. He would have remembered Annette going out in her school uniform. He never went to the cemetery. He couldn’t look at her grave. He wanted to remember Annette the way she was.

“Mammy used to go up and sit at the grave, breaking her heart. We were children but they were dealing with it.

“As we got older, we understood their grief more. That is why we are fighting for justice. Now we are stronger, we can talk about it. I often wonder how did mothers and fathers deal with the loss of children like that. There was no counselling. They just closed the door and they had to deal with it themselves.

“It was shocking. It was horrible,” said Martin.

May said she felt Annette’s name was never, ever mentioned down the years, after she was buried. “Annette was the forgotten one,” said May sadly.

“A few years back, the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) were on board and we thought we were getting closer. We met them on numerous occasions,” said Martin.

“On Annette’s 39th anniversary, we sat with them in the Pat Finucane Centre and they told us they hoped to have closure by her 40th anniversary. That gave us a bit of hope and we thought we would get closure.

“They were getting places. They were able to establish the regiment - The Royal Green Jackets - and on one occasion one of the members said to me, ‘We have questioned Soldiers A, B and C but Soldier D is refusing to speak’. I was a wee bit hopeful. 

“But then the British Government pulled the HET because they were getting so far. That knocked us back. Then the Legacy Bill came in to protect the soldiers and to protect the murderers who killed all our loved ones.

“We are not fighting this just for Annette. We are fighting it on behalf of all the families too because a lot of families have suffered here and the British Government is just closing door after door for people. You can’t do that for loved ones. Chris Heaton-Harris says, ‘Draw a line in the sand’ but this Government wants to dig a hole in the sand and bury their heads. It is an embarrassment,” said Martin.

Speaking passionately, Martin was adamant the Legacy Bill was wrong.

“Every politician says it is wrong. It is illegal. It is shocking what they are going to do. The Irish Government says it’s wrong. The Irish Government needs to do more. They need to challenge it in the proper channels and the US needs to come onboard and challenge it too. They need to fight hard.

“If this happened anywhere else in the world, there would be mayhem. This is human life that was taken away. Murder is murder is murder. Now there is a soldier who is being questioned about this. It is a murder investigation. It is unbelievable they would consider just closing the door. 

“When we met the Legacy Investigation Branch (LIB), they told us they had questioned the soldier and he was refusing to speak. That is an absolute joke. I told the HET we just want them to admit they murdered a 14-year-old school girl. We just want truth and justice. We want closure. 

“We will always be sad for Annette’s loss and other families will be sad for their loved ones. It isn’t just about Annette. I keep saying, a lot of families are going through the same as us and on their behalf, we will all keep fighting. 

“We will keep banging on doors until we get the truth. And through the courts, we will stand by other families and they will do the same for us. The British are trying to protect their own soldiers,” said Martin.

“You can’t just murder someone and get away with it,” said May.