Relatives of terrorist violence victims call for Troubles truth commission as powerful stories heard at Stormont event
Grieving relatives of people who lost their lives to terrorist violence during the Troubles have made a call for a truth commission that could reveal the real stories of what happened to their loved ones.
Several speakers at a Stormont event on Monday wanted the truth about what happened to their families to come out, from the cousin of a soldier killed in an IRA honeytrap 54 years ago to the day, to the daughter of an RUC man murdered in the 1970s.
The event, hosted by TUV MLA Timothy Gaston to mark the European Day for Victims of Terrorism, brought together people united by the grief of the tragedies that befell them during the dark days of the Troubles.
For the families, the decades since their loved ones’ deaths haven’t brought peace to their lives, and the fact that so many of the perpetrators never faced justice or were even held accountable still rankles.
That included Pamela Wilson, who lost her RUC officer father David Dorsett to an IRA bomb in January 1973.
His death “ripped through our lives as much as any bomb or bullet”, she told an assembled crowd of politicians, and the family believes it contributed to the early deaths of her mother and brother, the latter of whom followed his father into the police only to pass away from a heart attack aged in his 40s.
Sgt Dorsett’s death means that his youngest daughter Julie, an infant at the time of his murder, has no memories of her father, said Pamela.
“Things were also tough financially,” she said. “Dad had been the only wage-earner, and while Mum received a small widow’s pension, pre-1982 widows received very little compensation for the loss of their husbands.
“Mum struggled with depression and I remember taking tablets every day just to be able to function.
“There was no counselling provided either to her or us; we were just expected to get on with it.
“The atrocity of our dad’s murder and the subsequent premature death of our mother has rippled throughout our lives.
“With no mum and dad to witness and celebrate our life achievements, it has always felt as though there was something missing.”
Among the most infamous killings of the early years of the Troubles were the murders of three off-duty soldiers from Scotland, two of them teenage brothers, who were lured from a Belfast pub by women who promised them a party only to be captured by IRA men and shot on a north Belfast hill.
The incident happened on March 10, 1971 – meaning the Stormont victims event took place 54 years to the day since the murders.
David McCaughey, whose cousin Dougald McCaughey was one of the soldiers, remembered the shock and confusion devastating the family.
“Two mothers died that day, their hearts were broken,” he said, adding that his cousin’s murder left “a scar that has never healed and will never heal”.
Adding that at this point relatives have largely accepted the perpetrators will never see justice, Mr McCaughey stated that now grieving families “just want the truth” and for the killers to be named.
“All people want is the truth; it’s not too much to ask for, is it?” he said.
Caroline D’Eath, whose father Gerald was killed by a UVF bomb left on a building site he was working on in 1975, expressed a similar view.
“Everyone just wants truth and justice,” she said, adding that investigations that have taken place have left the family with “more questions than answers”.
And she stated that the controversial legacy act, which shut down Troubles-era inquests and created a new body to look into cases, wasn’t something she or many other relatives could support, saying that it’s not the “proper form” of investigating Northern Ireland’s past.
In addition, pre-recorded video testimony was heard from Colette Murray, whose brother Cyril was murdered by loyalists in a sectarian killing.
Speaking after the event, Kenny Donaldson of victims’ group the South East Fermanagh Foundation told the News Letter that relatives have been “conditioned to believe that justice isn’t possible”.
“The term that overrides everything is accountability, and truth comes with that as a prerequisite,” he said.
“Whilst it won’t mean people being put in prison, at this stage we know opportunities for that are very limited, accountability is attainable and must be delivered.”
Mr Gaston said he was “humbled and privileged” to host the event, carrying on a tradition started by his predecessor as North Antrim MLA, Jim Allister, adding it was “a welcome corrective to attempts to airbrush victims from the record.”