A former bombardier with the Light Air Defence Regiment – identified as INQ 754 – told the inquiry yesterday he saw the body of a fair haired man in the back of a car with two nail bombs strapped to the inside of his thighs.
INQ 754 said he saw the body in a left-hand-drive Volkswagen Beetle in an army base at the Letterkenny Road on the evening of Bloody Sunday.
While he was the only soldier to report seeing the body to the Saville Inquiry, INQ 754 refused to accept that he mistook the body for that of Gerard Donaghy, one of the 13 shot dead on the day.
Nail bombs were found in Mr Donaghy's pockets in the Foyle Road army base on Bloody Sunday. The Bloody Sunday families and eyewitnesses to his shooting have always maintained the nail bombs were planted on Mr Donaghy's body after he was shot.
INQ 754 said he was on duty near the Craigavon Bridge when he saw other soldiers milling around the vehicle in a military compound. One of the soldiers told him there was a body in the car, he said.
"I could see the body of a young man who I believe was aged about 20. He had blonde hair and was of average build and weight...
"I could see that there was a bullet wound in the left side of his neck, closest to me. It looked like an entrance wound as it was relatively small. I was unable to see an exit wound and did not notice any blood on him. He was obviously dead," he said.
The soldier said the victim's jeans had been pulled down to his knees showing two nail bombs strapped to the inside of his thighs.
"The nail bombs had then been taped to the inside of his legs with white masking tape. I believe that one nail bomb strapped to the inside of one thigh was slightly higher than the other so that they fitted one underneath the other between his legs," he said.
Questioned by counsel to the inquiry, Christopher Clarke QC, the soldier refused to accept he had mistaken the body for that of Gerard Donaghy.
Mr Clarke said: "I want to suggest that whilst your recollection of there being a dead youth in a car with nail bombs on him is accurate and that you may well have seen him in the car, you are simply mistaken with the passage of time in recalling that you saw a youth shot in the neck or with nail bombs strapped to his thigh.
"Is it possible that over the years your memory, that is, (sic) played tricks on you in that respect?"
The point was also suggested to him by chairman of the tribunal, Lord Saville, but the witness was adamant that he saw a different body from Mr Donaghy's.
There is no record of any body – other than that of Mr Donaghy – being held or later released from military custody at Foyle Road or Letterkenny Road on Bloody Sunday.
