Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
£193k compo for Bloody Sunday victim
Compensation win for victim scarred in 1972
A MAN shot in the face on Bloody Sunday is to be awarded £193,000 in damages, a High Court judge ruled yesterday.
Mr Justice Mcalinden ordered the compensation to Michael Quinn for injuries inflicted as a schoolboy when soldiers opened fire in Derry in 1972.
The payout also includes recognition of a “cloud of suspicion” which hung over him for decades until a major inquiry established the innocence of all those killed and wounded.
Justice Mcalinden said: “The conduct of the servants or agents of the government directly responsible for the deaths and injuries on January 30, 1972, and thereafter perpetuating a lie that at least some of those killed and injured on that day had been engaged in significant wrongdoing, clearly constitute oppressive, arbitrary and unconstitutional conduct.”
British paratroopers shot dead 13 people during a civil rights demonstration which became known as Bloody Sunday.
One of the others wounded on the day died later. In 2010 the Saville Inquiry confirmed all of the victims were innocent, prompting then Prime Minister David Cameron to publicly apologise for the actions of the soldiers. He described the killings as “unjustified and unjustifiable”.
Claims have been brought against the Ministry of Defence by those bereaved or wounded.
With liability accepted, three test cases have been selected for arguments on the level of damages.
Now aged 63 and having forged a successful career in banking, Dublin-based Mr Quinn still bears the scars of what happened on that day.
He told the court: “It felt like someone had given me a very hard punch to the face.
“Just below my eye I could see droplets of blood and bone and skin exploding from my face.”
Outside court his solicitor, Fearghal Shiels of Madden & Finucane, said: “No amount of money could compensate Mr Quinn for the physical and mental scars he has carried with him every day since 1972.”
No amount of cash will compensate for the scars he’s carried with him FEARGHAL SHIELS BELFAST YESTERDAY