Darkley massacre - victims must never be forgotten
FORMER News Letter editor AUSTIN HUNTER was a young BBC journalist on duty on the night of the Darkley massacre. Here he recounts his harrowing memories on what he describes as one of the worst nights of the Province's history
It was a Sunday evening in November 25 years ago and I was on duty in the BBC newsroom in Belfast as the weekend television reporter.
The first indication that something terrible had happened came from the RUC Press Office. Details were sketchy but they told us there had been a gun attack on a small church in Co Armagh and there were casualties, possibly fatalities.
We very quickly assembled the standard television crew of the time – a cameraman, sound recordist and lighting engineer – and headed off to south Armagh in three cars, a decision that was to have logistic benefits when the full horror of what happened became clear.
As a television reporter in the 1980s I had got to know south Armagh fairly well. Unfortunately most of the stories I covered in that area were related to the Troubles.
I had never been in Darkley but we checked the map on the newsroom wall before we set off and managed to get there fairly quickly – in the 1980s there was no sat-nav to check on directions and no mobile phones to find out the latest developments.
It was dark when we arrived at the small church and police had the area sealed off as they set about their follow-up operation.
We knew many of the police who were there and it became clear very quickly from speaking to them that officers who had seen many awful things in their careers were suffering from shock and revulsion.
The senior police officer gave us a very moving interview describing the horror of what had happened – but even his words did not prepare us for the scene inside the church.
The bodies of the three men brutally killed had been removed by the time we were allowed into the church to film but the aftermath was all too visible.
Where cold-blooded murder is concerned, there should be no hiearchy of deaths but the scene inside that place of worship seemed to transcend anything we had experienced before.
There was blood everywhere, pews were overturned, there were bullet holes in Bibles and hymn books and there was an atmosphere of absolute despair.
We were only in the church for five minutes but I have never forgotten the scene and I know the rest of the crew felt exactly the same.
But we had a professional job to do and our next task was to get the film back to Belfast for transmission on the BBC national news at 10pm. There were no satellite links in 1983 – all the film or video had to be driven back to Belfast.
I believe we split up the video cassettes between the cameraman and lighting engineer and they set off in their separate cars to get back to base as quickly as possible.
While they were on their way back I drove the short distance to Keady and from a public telephone box I dictated my report to a copytaker in Belfast.
I also passed on details of the interviews we had done and explained the pictures obtained by the cameraman.
By this stage my reporter colleague James Robbins had been called into the newsroom and, using the film from the scene, he did what is called a voiceover which led the national news. The interview with the senior police officer was used at length.
I drove back to Belfast to be reunited with the crew and we were then told by the police that the congregation had been recording their service on an audio tape.
We set off again back to Gough Barracks in Armagh and got a copy of the tape, which is one of the most chilling things I have ever heard in my life.
People were obviously singing a hymn when there was the unmistakable crack of gunfire and then total silence.
It was horrible to know that that was the moment when people died.
We worked through the night on reporting what happened in Darkley and the next morning the pictures and audio tape was the lead story on all the major BBC outlets on radio and television.
A couple of days later I reported on the funerals of the people who died. I interviewed the pastor and met survivors who were so helpful, dignified and above all Christian in their response to the tragedy.
It was in total contrast to the actions of the depraved people who carried out the attack.
I have never been back to Darkley but I intend to go there some day.
When I do, I just want to stand quietly at the scene and remember those Christian people who were singing hymns and clutching Bibles when evil walked into their place of worship.
It all happened 25 years ago but we must never forget the victims and survivors of one of the worst nights in Northern Ireland’s troubled and blood-stained history.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Belfast
Monday 28 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South
