Troubles victims: Man who saw father shot by IRA as a child says SEFF memorial quilt brings solidarity to victims in north west

Ronnie Finlay, from the Castlederg area, was a married father of two, aged 47, when the IRA ambushed him on 15 August 1991.

His wife Kathleen was driving him to his employment at a farm, along with their two sons, aged ten and three.

As Ronnie got out of the car his wife reported a noise and could see her husband trying to balance himself.

She got out to help him, thinking it had been a heart attack, but then heard automatic gunfire.

Running to help him, a gun man pushed her back and kept his gun trained on her while she held her three-year-old son.

The gunmen then riddled her husband with automatic gunfire as he lay injured on the ground.

Nobody was ever arrested for the murder.

"I was there and I was only ten," Brian told the News Letter. "My brother was only three.

"They continued to shoot my father when he was on the ground in front of my mother. I was in the car at the time."

His mother Kathleen later said that he was the 14th Protestant from their community to be murdered in the previous eight years.

Brian now lives in the Craigavon area.

On Sunday he told his story for the first time at Christ Church Strabane in a church packed with Troubles victims who had gathered to witness the dedication of the South East Fermanagh Foundation’s (SEFF) new Memorial Quilt for victims from the West Tyrone and the North West Region.

The quilt represents 74 innocent victims from across the community, Protestant and Roman Catholic, unionist and nationalist, security force and civilian.

His father's patch includes a UDR cap badge, a cross and an orange order badge.

"It is the symbolic aspect of the quilt that means so much to us. It is all about solidarity - other people have been affected as well. It has been good to talk to others and bring them together."

Now 41, he has only recently been able to talk openly about his experience.

"I would probably have symptoms like PTSD. I had a deep anger about what had happened and tried to find comfort in alcohol.”

He lived in Scotland for many years before coming home and getting counselling.

"But you are trying to get on with your life and things draw you back in, for example statements from Michelle O'Neill that there was ‘no alternative’ to the IRA.

"But to me there certainly was an alternative to what was done to my father that morning.

"It is important that the truth is not forgotten or airbrushed about my father's murder and the many other atrocities committed through the terrorist campaign."

SEFF's Director of Services Kenny Donaldson stated: "Many innocent victims/survivors based in the north west who are now connecting with SEFF have never previously engaged with groups or statutory agencies on these issues.

We are encouraged that they are finding their voice, families like the Finlays. It is a priority for SEFF to build upon the suite of services and interventions that we offer within this Region."