IRA victim's sister: McGuinness should have told truth on death bed

Ann Travers had hoped the former IRA commander would have taken the opportunity in his final days to make contact with relatives of victims and tell the truth about what had happened to their loved ones.

In an interview with Radio Ulster Ms Travers explained that her overwhelming sadness on Tuesday caused her to decline any requests for media interview.

Speaking today she said: “When I heard about Martin McGuinness’s passing my immediate thoughts were for the victims of Enniskillen and Claudy, Joanne Mathers’ husband and children, Patsy Gillespie’s widow and family, and Frank Hegarty’s son and family.

“I just felt really, really sad for them that they wouldn’t be getting the answers and the truth that they so richly deserved.”

She added: “I was filled with sadness ... sadness that anybody would reach for gun in first place instead of going down a political route, sadness for the loss of life and sadness that Martin McGuinness, even whenever he knew he was very ill, he could have dictated letters to those families and told them the truth of what happened with their loved ones and acknowledge that what happened was wrong.”

Of Mr McGuinness she said: “There has been a lot of talk about Mr McGuinness and what he achieved in the last few years. Granted, he moved from violence to a political journey and he was very fortunate to be able to carry out that journey.

“Unlike many people who weren’t able to continue their journey to work or socialising that the IRA murdered.

“Three or four years ago he was running for the presidential election in the south of Ireland and he was approached by David Kelly, who asked him how he could help him with what he knew about the murder of his father, Private Kelly. Martin McGuinness told him to move on.

“We need really to be very careful about how we remember his work that he did in the last 20 years.”

Ms Travers went on to say she hoped something positive could come out of the intense coverage of Mr McGuinness’s death including the increased interest in the opinions of IRA victims.

She said: “What I would hope after all of this is that senior members of Sinn Fein who were in the IRA may just get it why victims are still hurting so much.

“People didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to their loved ones.

“They waved goodbye at the front door and a car bomb went off and they saw their husband murdered in front of them.

“In my case, my sister went to mass and she never came home again.

“In Joanne Mathers case, she went around to collect census figures and she never came home again.

“They never got a chance to say goodbye, never got a chance to prepare themselves.”