THE family of a West Belfast man shot dead by a soldier from the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) believes justice is “impossible” as the family marks his 40th anniversary.
17-year-old Paul ‘Kelso’ Kelly from Whiterock Gardens was travelling in a stolen car along with four others when the vehicle failed to stop at a UDR checkpoint at Kennedy Way on January 15, 1985.
Paul received a fatal wound when the UDR opened fire with the four other young men also injured.
At the time Paul’s death provoked a cross-border row when the then Irish Foreign Affairs Minister, Peter Barry expressed “grave concern” to the British government, stating that he found the deployment of the notorious UDR in and around West Belfast “incomprehensible”.
At Paul’s inquest his family heard that he was found to have suffered around 50 wounds from bullet fragments to his upper back and torso. However, despite extensive forensic tests at the time, it was never revealed how many times Paul had been shot or which member of the patrol had fired the fatal rounds.
Speaking to the Andersonstown News on Paul’s 40th anniversary, his brother John believes the family will never receive justice for what happened.
“Forty years on and we have never got justice and probably never will,” he explained. “My father took it to the European Court of Human Rights and countless other courts but we have got nowhere.
“I know there are plenty of other families in a similar position. You can’t get justice from the British state.
“Paul was a very quiet fella. I still think about him every day. He was only 17-years-old. He never got a chance at life. His murder destroyed my mother and father who went to their graves without any justice.
“I can’t believe it has been 40 years. It seems like yesterday to me. I will never get over it.”
The family are holding a vigil at the scene on Kennedy Way this Saturday night at 7pm to mark his 40th anniversary. Everyone is welcome to attend.
