The murder of Divis man Peter Doherty, who was killed by the British Army during the 1981 Hunger Strike, is set to feature in a new documentary.
In the early hours of the morning of 24 July, Mr Doherty (33) was standing in the kitchen of his first floor flat in Divis Flats when he was hit by a plastic bullet fired by a member of the Royal Marine Commando. He died in the Royal Victoria Hospital a week later.
The British Army had entered the Albert Street area in the Lower Falls to remove barricades and came under attack from some local youths who, according to eyewitnesses, threw no more than three petrol bombs. Soldiers responded by indiscriminately firing plastic bullets.
One plastic bullet hit Mr Doherty and became lodged in his head. He passed away on July 31.
Despite British claims that missiles were thrown from Mr Doherty's flat, two inquest juries failed to reach a conclusive decision in the case. The soldier who fired the plastic bullet refused to appear before the second inquest in 1982.
Mr Doherty's killing has never been properly investigated.
As part of a series of events to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1981 Hunger Strike, the Falls Commemoration Committee is set to produce a new documentary, which will look at a number of casualties in the Lower Falls area from that period.
John McAree, who witnessed the shooting, described how he cleaned up the blood which splattered the property when Mr Doherty was shot.
His told how his mum Maureen, Mr Doherty's long-term partner, was "never the same" after his killing.
"It hit my mum bad – I don't think she was ever the same after it," he said.
"It happened years ago, but I can still remember the soldier's name who fired the plastic bullet. He didn't turn up to the inquest and the inquest was a whitewash as far as I was concerned because they said it was death through misadventure.
"It was three months before the RUC actually came out to the house. They said 'how do we know he was hit here?'. I said I was the one who cleaned the blood up when he was hit in the temple.
"I just happened to look while we were talking, and I said 'if you really need to know the ceiling should tell you' – I said 'there on the ceiling, there on the ceiling there's splatters of blood.'"
Mr McAree, who 18-years-old at the time, told how the British Army fired hundreds of plastic bullets during the events that evening.
"They were just firing up at people's windows," he said.
"Every two seconds you could hear the thud when they hit the concrete or when they hit windows.
"I think on that particular night it was the most plastic bullets fired in one night. It's coming up to 40 years ago, but something is telling be that 360-odd plastic bullets were fired that night."
Mr McAree recalled how Mr Doherty's case was taken on by human rights solicitor Pat Finucane, who was murdered by a state-backed UDA death squad in 1989. Neither family have received justice.
Falls Commemoration Committee Chairperson, Fra Mc Cann MLA said: "Peter’s story, like that of the others who were killed during those terrible and tragic days of 1981, deserves to be told in this 40th anniversary year."
