By IRNA,
London : The UK government issued an apology Monday to the family of a 12-year-old girl who was shot dead by a British soldier in County Armagh, Northern Ireland in 1976.
A letter signed by Defence Secretary, Liam Fox (pictured), is to be handed over to the family of Majella O’Hare, who was on her way to church when she was shot in the back with a bullet.
The apology is only second to have been offered by the British government for killings during the conflict in Northern Ireland. The first was made last year over the British army killing 14 unarmed civil rights protesters in Londonderry in 1972 in what became known as Bloody Sunday.
Jane Winter of British Irish Rights Watch welcomed the belated apology, which she described as ‘unreserved and unconditional’, but questioned why it had taken 35 years.
‘It has been a long time – it’s a shame it’s taken so long – but at the same time I think it is welcome for the family. The family have never wanted a second prosecution, what they wanted was an acknowledgement that what happened was wrong,’ Winter said.
The case is among 3,269 killings between 1968 and 1998 being re-examined by the Historical Enquiries Team (HET), which was set up as a unit of the revamped Police Service of Northern Ireland in 2005.
At the time, Private Michael Williams was charged with manslaughter after an investigation by the former Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) rejected his claim that he was returning fire on a gunman, but he was still acquitted.