New information emerges on death of Majella O’Hare

The Historical Enquiries Team, which was set up by the British Government to investigate serious incidents involving the security forces, has revealed new evidence regarding the killing of 12 year old Majella O’Hare from Whitecross in August 1976.

The evidence has been brought to light under the direction  of David Cox, leader of the HET and contradicts the official British Army account given at the trial of a soldier and at the subsequent inquest.  It contradicts in particular the statement of the soldier involved in Majella’s death.

Majella’s brother Mickey  travelled from his home in London last week to meet the HET officials. He said he hoped the evidence  would convince the DPP to open a fresh case and create a measure of closure  to a tragedy that shocked the country thirty three years ago.

On the same morning  and at the same time as the killing of Majella, members of the Reavey family were laying flowers at the grave of the their brothers,  along with Alice Campbell who in fact was to marry her fiancé Brian Reavey that same day, August 14th.  They recalled the sudden burst of gunfire and all fell to the ground thinking that the gunfire was directed at themselves.  They also recalled the violent language and behaviour of soldiers towards them and the general atmosphere of hostility.  Alice Campbell, a nurse, was the person who immediately looked after Majella  in the aftermath of the shooting and went with her in the helicopter.  Majella died in her arms en route to Daisy Hill hospital.

Twelve year old Majella of Rathview Gardens, Whitecross, the youngest daughter in a family of four children, was shot by members of joint British army patrol of Royal Marine Commando and Parachute Regiment. 

A pupil at St. Paul’s Secondary School, Bessbrook, she  was a member of St. Killian’s Youth Club and  was described  as a likeable and lively girl with a great musical ability.

It was a bright sunny Saturday morning and Majella’s father Jim, a forestry worker, was cutting grass in a schoolyard near the church and could see the girls coming along the country road, heading towards St. Malachy’s Catholic Church, Ballymoyer. Suddenly, as the girls passed the graveyard of St Malachy’s Church, a single shot rang out and Majella fell.

He immediately stopped what he was doing and ran from the schoolyard towards the injured child and, on reaching the scene, found to his horror it was his own daughter  on the roadway.  She had been wounded on the left side of the body. 

“I could have been shot dead myself,” Mr O’Hare said at the time, “for the soldiers adopted a very threatening attitude and demanded to know ‘what the f***ing hell I was doing there?’

“Blood was gushing from my daughter’s side, but even though there was a qualified nurse in the cemetery at the time, it was a full five minutes before they would allow anyone to attend to Majella and it was another ten minutes before the helicopter that was flying overhead landed and took her to hospital.” 

Nurse Alice Campbell, who  had been placing flowers on the grave of her fiancé Brian Reavey, attended to Majella. Some of the soldiers helped her to treat the child and offered bandages while they waited on the helicopter landing, but one of the soldiers, she said, kept repeating to her, ‘This is your f**king Provos for you’.

The British army press office issued a statement shortly after the shooting, claiming soldiers at a vehicle checkpoint had been fired on by a sniper and a child had been hit.  They said none of the soldiers returned fire.  However, a further statement issued from the same source several hours later claimed the soldiers had returned fire on a gunman in a hedgerow and the child was caught in the crossfire. 

The British army version of events were totally rejected by those who witnessed the shooting and the scenes immediately afterwards. These witnesses identified the weapon that killed Majella as a heavy-duty general-purpose machine gun. 

The RUC also issued a statement several hours after the shooting to inform the Press ‘we are carrying out an investigation; we can confirm that the fatal bullet possibly came from a British army weapon. The report that the British army came under fire is still being investigated.’

Several weeks after the shooting, the British army Press office issued a further statement claiming they did not know the reason why the British army had initially denied opening fire.  It was also revealed the British soldiers involved in the shooting had left Ireland with their regiment. 

During the winter of 1976 the Press reported that an RUC investigation into the shooting of Majella had been concluded and the file sent to the Northern Ireland Department of Public Prosecutions. The DPP later decided to charge one of the soldiers involved, a Private Michael Williams, Royal Marine Commando, with Majella’s murder. The murder charge was subsequently reduced to the lesser charge of manslaughter by the time the case came up for trial.

The trial of Private Williams for manslaughter began in April 1977. The Crown Prosecution at the trial rejected Williams claim to have fired on a gunman, countering that no such person appeared in the hedge and, in that instance, the firing of the machine gun by the accused was an unlawful act. 

Williams pleaded not guilty, maintaining he had aimed at a gunman in a hedge. He told the court he been involved in giving cover to other soldiers mounting a checkpoint when he heard a ‘crack’ before he fired.  He said that he did not see the children in front of him when he fired. He was adamant he saw a gunman in the hedge. He also claimed there was no way his machine gun could have gone off accidentally. ‘I cocked the weapon and fired it,’ he claimed.

At the  trial Judge Gibson, sitting alone, acquitted Pte Williams.  An inquest into the killing of Majella O’Hare was held in October 1977.  Neither Private Williams nor any of the other soldiers involved in the shooting attended. 

The hearing was told that two bullets fired from an army machine gun hit Majella. Williams was identified as the soldier who fired the machine gun.  In his statement Williams again claimed he fired at a man in a hedge.  An open verdict was returned.  

In the 1980s the O’Hare family received £1,500 from the Northern Ireland Office in compensation for the loss of their child.  Speaking after the hearing Mr O’Hare said, “No amount of money could compensate for the loss of Majella.”  

Jim O’Hare died on 5th December 1992. Her mother Mary still lives in Whitecross.

Mickey O’Hare stated that in the event of the DPP refusing to reopen the case, the least the family deserved was an apology from the soldier.