British ex-soldier acquitted of murder and attempted murder charges in 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://apnews.com/article/bloody-sunday-massacre-trial-soldier-northern-ireland-murder-derry-2d3c66443c5001917d8241809788cac2

LONDON (AP) — A former British paratrooper who was the only soldier ever charged in the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre in Northern Ireland was acquitted Thursday of murder charges.

Judge Patrick Lynch ruled at Belfast Crown Court that prosecutors failed to prove that the veteran identified only as “Soldier F” had opened fire on unarmed civilians who were running to safety.

Soldier F had pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder for the deaths of James Wray, 22, and William McKinney, 27, and five counts of attempted murder for the shootings of Joseph Friel, Michael Quinn, Joe Mahon, Patrick O’Donnell, and for opening fire at unarmed civilians.

The judge in the nonjury trial said that the evidence presented against the veteran fell well short of what was required for conviction.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. No "collective responsibility" conviction available, and the evidence from 2 other soldiers was unreliable

Solider F was on trial.

That soldiers G, H, F and E were "part of the initial group of soldiers who entered Glenfada Park North and were responsible for the deaths [Mr McKeever and Mr Wray] and woundings" of "four (possibly five) others"
...
Court documents detailing today's ruling stated that there is "no concept of “collective guilt” in this jurisprudence".

"An individual is only responsible for his or her own actions and to establish guilt, in this case, the Crown must establish that the defendant was knowingly and intentionally assisting in the shootings, with intent to kill or was shooting himself with that intention.

"The court noted that the sole evidence against the defendant on this issue is that of Soldiers G and H and it had already indicated the difficulties in relying upon their evidence."

Judge Lynch said "delay" had "seriously hampered the capacity of the defence to test the veracity and accuracy of the hearsay statements", and that Soldiers G and H had been "serially untruthful" and had "committed perjury".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cglgk5p1l33t?post=asset%3Ad326d5f0-ff07-449e-beb6-ce12f8cbf7b5#post

[Solly Mack]

2. David James Cleary aka Soldier F.