Killer soldier claimed his finger slipped on trigger
A SOLDIER acted with gross negligence when he shot and killed a man at a cross-border checkpoint in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, a court has been told.
David Jonathan Holden, 52, is on trial at Belfast Crown Court accused of the manslaughter of Aidan McAnespie in February 1988. He denies the offence.
A prosecutor told the nonjury trial, being presided over by Mr Justice O’Hara, that Holden’s account that his finger had slipped and he had fired the shots by accident was “not credible”. Mr McAnespie, 23, was killed inAughnacloy, County Tyrone, moments after walking through a border checkpoint. He was going to a sports club when he was shot in the back with a machine gun by the Grenadier Guardsman. Prosecuting barrister Ciaran Murphy QC said: “The defendant discharged three bullets. One of the bullets ricocheted off the road and struck Mr McAnespie.
“The explanation given for the shooting by the defendant at the time was his finger had slipped on to, and pulled, the trigger by accident. That explanation is not accepted by the prosecution.
“Even if that version is accepted as fact, it was nevertheless a grossly negligent act and we submit that the court conclude that the defendant failed to give adequate regard as to whether the gun was in a non-firing state when he pulled the trigger.
“Given the level of duty of care upon the defendant as a soldier in possession of a lethal weapon, we say the killing of Mr McAnespie was an unlawful act.”
The barrister said Holden’s account he had fired the weapon by accident because his hands were wet was unlikely. He said: “The fact that two of the three shots fired landed within yards of Mr McAnespie, someone whom the defendant accepted he was concerned was a member of the IRA, support the inference that the defendant was training his gun in the region of the deceased when he engaged the trigger.”
The case continues. Ministers are yet to table draft legislation, first promised last summer, to ban future prosecutions linked to the Troubles, predating April 1998.
Protesters gathered outside the court and unfurled banners calling for an end to Troubles prosecutions.
But Mr McAnespie’s family, who spoke outside the court, said prosecutions should go on. Grainne Taggart, from Amnesty which is supporting the family, said: “Today represents the due process that the UK Government is seeking to shut down.”