THE relative of a Bloody Sunday victim has rejected claims that Soldier F should not to be jailed if he is convicted of his brother’s murder.
Michael McKinney was responding to claims by Kate Nash that the majority of families did not wish to see Soldier F imprisoned.
A former Paratrooper, Soldier F is due to appear at Derry Magistrate’s Court next month charged with the murders of William McKinney (26) and Jim Wray (22).
He is also expected to be charged with the attempted murder of Joseph Friel, Michael Quinn, Joe Mahon and Patrick O’Donnell who were also shot and injured when soldiers opened fire on a civil rights march in Derry in January 1972.
Ms Nash’s brother, William (19) was shot dead while her father, Alex, was shot and wounded on Bloody Sunday.
Speaking on the 40th anniversary of the IRA’s killing of 16 members of the Parachute Regiment at Warrenpoint, she told the News Letter she did not want to see Soldier F jailed if convicted of any of the charges he faced.
"That would be my experience of most of the families," she said.
However Michael McKinney, whose brother William was shot dead, said he believed that Soldier F should be jailed if convicted as to do otherwise would diminish his brother’s memory.
“Justice must run its course; if he’s convicted, he should do time. Willie must be treated the same as any other victim; he cannot be a non-person or a non-victim. I know all of my family believe that,” he said.
Mr McKinney described Ms Nash’s comments as “unhelpful”. He said that throughout the Bloody Sunday campaign, he had never sought to speak for any other family.
“I don’t think Kate would like it if I started issuing statements about her brother or father. Kate does not speak for all of the Bloody Sunday families,” he said.
