A PLAQUE has been unveiled to mark the 50th anniversary of a New Lodge man shot dead by a Royal Marine patrol.
Michael Hayes (27) was shot nine times in the upper body and legs near his home in Spamount Street on October 1, 1972.
He was coming home from a night out at Edmund Rice Christian Brothers School in Pim Street, where an event had been held to raise money for a minibus, when he was shot.
The soldiers claimed Mr Hayes, who was married with two sons, aged two and three, was a gunman but no residue was found on him to suggest he had been firing a weapon.
The killing was investigated by the Royal Military Police but the Director of Public Prosecutions recommended no further action to be taken.
Last Friday night, Michael’s family and friends gathered in Edlingham Street, between Stratheden and Spamount Street, to unveil a plaque to mark his 50th anniversary.
Speaking to the North Belfast News, Michael’s son, Kevin said: “My father was walking home from a charity event when he was challenged by the British Army.
"It was late at night, the early hours of the morning on 1 October. They said that he had a gun and shot him nine times.
"This was the first time that they had used night sight scopes on their rifles.
"He was branded a gunman but they tested his clothes and there was no residue on them and there was no weapon found at the scene. He was a completely innocent man."
Fifty years on, Kevin says the family just want an apology. At the time his mother received £25,000 compensation but the family have yet to find out who paid the compensation and if it was the MoD.
"We want an apology," he added.
"We are not interested in seeking compensation but finding out who paid my mother that £25,000 will help us in being able to have the truth about our father's killing told.
"We have been working with the Pat Finucane Centre and Pádraig Ó Muirigh solicitors to find out more information about that.
"We have been refused a new inquest because they have said that they will only grant one if there is new evidence. The team at the Pat Finucane Centre have been over to Kew Gardens (in London) to search the records and see if they can find documents which could reopen our case, or if a new witness came forward, or if in the unlikely event that one of the soldiers had an attack of conscience before he died, then they might come clean.
"All we want is an apology. We don't have a criminal case as when I went to the Public Record Office, they issued me with the statements from the soldiers without redacting them. Soldier C killed my father and he is now dead.
"A lot of my father's immediate family have passed away. They were waiting on an apology and for him to be declared innocent, my grandmother passed without seeing her son declared innocent and if the British government have their way, we will never see him declared innocent.
“We didn’t want the 50 years to pass without doing something.
“We invited family and friends to the mural unveiling and we had a bit of a function afterwards.
“I know it is 50 years on but it is still very raw for the family. He will never be forgotten. My children, my brother’s children and extended family will never stop fighting for justice.
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people of the New Lodge who came out on Friday and supported the family."
