One of the soldiers responsible for removing bodies from the streets on Bloody Sunday has denied claims that the dead were treated with disrespect.
The former soldier, known as Soldier 112, told the Saville Inquiry he was in the back of a Pig into which three bodies were transported to Altnagelvin hospital on Bloody Sunday.
At the outset of his evidence yesterday (Wednesday), the witness said he was – and had been for some time – an alcoholic. He said this had blurred his memories.
Throughout questioning, the witness accepted that claims he made in his written testimony to the Saville Inquiry might be inaccurate.
In his written statement, he said he was deployed in a Pig to collect some bodies. He recalled three bodies being placed in the back of the armoured car.
"I was in the back of the Pig with another soldier whose name I cannot remember. As I remember, the bodies were put into the Pig head first and I helped put them in by taking each body under the arms as it was passed in and pulling it in.
"There was a priest nearby, I think it was Father Daly – although I did not know this at the time – and he was shouting and complaining that the bodies were being manhandled," he said.
A large number of eyewitnesses have claimed the bodies of the dead were mistreated by soldiers on Bloody Sunday. One witness claimed they were thrown into the back of a Pig like "a sack of potatoes".
Soldier 112 said two bodies were placed on the ground of the Pig and a third was placed on top of these. He denied that the bodies were "thrown" into the vehicle.
He said he used his fingers to check the necks of the dead for a pulse but did not find any. He recalled that one of the men had a head wound and another had a stomach wound. He could not recall the third man's wounds.
Questioned by Kieran Mallon – for the family of William and Alex Nash (William was shot dead and Alex, his father, shot and wounded) – Soldier 112 said a post mortem picture of William Nash was possibly one of the bodies he had seen.
He was unable to account for a delay in the bodies arriving at Altnagelvin Hospital, although he told the inquiry the Pig stopped for a while before travelling to the hospital.
