Trauma from Bloody Sunday 'like Vietnam', court told in damages case

Daniel McGowan’s experience of soldiers opening fire in Londonderry on January 30, 1972 provided a plausible explanation for the depression and alcoholism he later developed, according to a psychiatric expert.

Judgment was reserved in a legal battle over the level of damages his estate should be awarded.

Thirteen unarmed people were killed and several others injured when members of the Parachute Regiment shot at a civil rights demonstration in the city.

Mr McGowan, who died in 2004 at the age of 69, suffered a serious leg wound during events on Bloody Sunday.

In 2010 the Saville Inquiry into the shootings established the innocence of all of the victims.

Those findings led to David Cameron, the prime minister at the time, issuing a public apology for the soldiers' actions.

He described the killings as "unjustified and unjustifiable".

Millions of pounds have already been paid out in a series of legal actions taken against the Ministry of Defence by those bereaved or injured.

With liability accepted in all cases, proceedings brought by Mr McGowan’s family centre on a dispute over the scale of compensation.

He was a 37-year-old maintenance operator at the Du Pont factory in Londonderry and attended the civil rights march while his wife was pregnant with their ninth child.

The Saville Inquiry found it “highly probable” that Soldier F was the paratrooper who shot him in the leg close to the Rossville Flats area.

Mr McGowan lay wounded at the scene for around an hour before being taken to hospital and undergoing repeated surgeries.

Unable to return to work due to the wounds, he later began drinking heavily and suffered from anxiety, neurosis and depression.

The family’s lawyers argued that any payout should reflect both the wrongful vilification of the father of nine and the loss of earnings as his life fell apart after Bloody Sunday.

Consultant psychiatrist Professor Thomas Fahy also gave evidence based on an assessment of Mr McGowan’s clinical records

The court heard there would have been a severe psychiatric trauma due to the shock of the incident itself.

According to Prof Fahy, the symptoms emerged with increasing severity in the medical records.

Counsel for the family, Karen Quinlivan KC, put to him that Mr McGowan suffered not only physically but mentally in the aftermath.

“He witnessed people being shot and killed before he himself was shot,” she said.

Prof Fahy indicated in reply that the consequences of the incident were similar to one of the basis behind the idea of PTSD.

“Troops coming back from Vietnam (after) being shot and injured, and the constellation of symptoms,” he said.

“It fits in very well with that whole concept, causing anxiety and depressive symptoms … along with secondary symptoms of bad dreams.”

Reserving judgment following the two-day hearing, Mr Justice Rooney pledged to rule on the damages award as soon as possible.