A COMMEMORATION will take place this Saturday at the Dairy Farm to mark the 30th anniversary of the UDA murder of Damien Walsh.
17-year-old Damien was shot dead by the UDA at the shopping centre on March 25, 1993, as he worked at a fuel depot, in full view of a British Army surveillance unit.
A 2021 Police Ombudsman report into the murder found "significant failures" and "collusive police behaviours" in the investigation, as well as in an RUC decision to suspend a surveillance operation against his killers just days before the shooting.
Ombudsman Marie Anderson stated that the RUC decision to suspend a surveillance operation against the UDA's 'C company' had "indirectly contributed" to their being able to carry out the killing without impediment.
Damien's mother Marian Walsh said the family have struggled for justice over the last three decades.
“The RUC from the start weren’t willing to treat the family very well and they weren’t respectful at all during that time," said Marian.
"They treated it as another republican murder and rather than get working on the murder case right away they chose to ask about whether the funeral was going to be a republican funeral, what route was going to be used on the funeral to avoid the loyalist area of Blacks Road. But it was none of that, Damien was just a kid he was a 17-year-old child on work experience at a coal distributor in the Dairy Farm.
“He wasn’t even supposed to work that night. He had switched shifts with his friend. I went to the Ombudsman to complain about the way this had been treated because as a family we had no understanding of why we weren’t being taken seriously by the police.”
“The police had tried to link the death of my son with a find of fertilizer, which had been a suspected IRA site, but that simply wasn’t acceptable to me. I approached the Ombudsman’s office to seek answers and they were able to tell me that there was clear evidence of collusion.”
In 2010, a Historical Enquiries Team report said soldiers were watching the Dairy Farm at the time of the killing because they had information that bomb-making materials were being stored there.
Marian continued: “The people who did this were never charged, DNA was not taken.
“The surveillance that was available in 1993, would have been good enough to identify the gunmen who murdered my son. Despite all the reports from the Ombudsman and the police, there has still not been a charge brought against any of the men who were suspects.
“Whoever was responsible for the security forces sanctioning this eight-day period of no surveillance should be held accountable for their actions.”
Paul Butler from Relatives for Justice, said: “That day that Damien was murdered, there were men who were not from the Colin area dressed in civilian clothes who were known to be Special Branch. The whole situation just seemed strange, and we have been working with Marian to fight for her son’s justice.”
“Now the government are trying to implement this Legacy Bill, which will try to silence any victim from that period in our history. This includes Damien and others who are in the same situation searching for justice for their family.”
The Walsh family have asked for support this Saturday as a commemoration for Damien will be held at 12 noon at the site of his murder in the Dairy Farm on the Stewartstown Road.
