A cameraman who claims he was hit twice by the police water cannon during last year's Ardoyne riots could next week come face-to-face with the officer he says deliberately targeted him.
Donovan Ross was working for ITN filming some of the worst clashes between police and nationalists since the ceasefires when he was allegedly targeted by officers manning the water cannon.
He is suing the PSNI after his £30,000 camera was destroyed in the incident. But he told the Sunday World, he'll be back on the streets of the Ardoyne to cover any riots this Twelfth. "Nobody, including the police, will stop me doing my job," he pledged.
Ross said: "What happened me last year was no accident. When I arrived in Ardoyne, I filmed the rioters attacking police but I wanted to cover the trouble from both sides.
"So I began to film police lines. I was hit with the water canon. There were no rioters near me but I still thought it must have been an accident. I cleaned the lens and kept working.
"Then I filmed a rioter being hit by a plastic bullet. I captured a policeman firing at a youth at eye-level. Police rules are that officers shouldn't aim at the head or upper body."
Ross says he believes the officer realised he'd been recorded. Ross was then drenched, for a second time, with the water cannon, even though he insists again that no rioters were near him. Although Ross's camera was destroyed, his film survived. He lodged a complaint with the Police Ombudsman.
Investigators from the ombudsman's office watched Ross's footage as well as film from the police water cannon and Youtube. The cameraman said a file was sent to the Public Prosecution Service. He added: "The PPS decided not to prosecute but I've launched a civil case myself.
Ross also alleges that at the funeral of Constable Ronan Kerr, one of the two officers who had manned the water cannon in Ardoyne joked to another cameraman about targeting Ross and destroying his camera.
