Family asks for probe into 1976 shooting of girl, 12

A GIRL shot in the back by a soldier in Northern Ireland was treated like a piece of meat, an eyewitness said.

Majella O’Hare, aged 12 and from the village of Whitecross in Co Armagh, had been walking to church in August 1976 when she was struck by two bullets, Amnesty International said.

Her family has demanded an independent investigation into her death.

Amnesty is helping organise the campaign for justice as part of its wider effort to ensure former armed forces members during the 30- year conflict are not “above the law”. It has taken testimony from witnesses to the killing.

Nurse Alice Devlin went to Majella’s aid and described the schoolgirl’s treatment after a helicopter arrived to bring her to hospital.

She said: “Majella was lifted just like a piece of meat and thrown in head first.”

She alleged: “They just wanted to get her off the road, get rid of her, get her out of the way.”

She travelled in the helicopter with the child but she was pronounced dead upon arrival at Newry’s Daisy Hill Hospital. Ms Devlin added: “I know now that on our way in Majella had passed.”

At the time soldiers claimed the shooting had been in response to an IRA sniper attack.

A soldier was later charged by the Royal Ulster Constabulary with manslaughter but acquitted in court.

In 2011, the UK government issued an apology to the O’Hare family in a letter which acknowledged the soldier’s courtroom explanation was “unlikely”.

The family want the record set straight on what happened to Majella and have written to the Police Service of Northern Ireland ( PSNI) requesting an independent investigation. The Government has been approached for a response.