Written evidence from Mr A Wallace
It is my understanding that you are to chair
the committee to investigate the proposals to deal with what I
can only describe as the aftermath of the "troubles"
in Ulster.
I feel that I must make you and of course the committee
aware of my wife's case in relation to the proposed payouts relating
to these matters and hope that this may highlight some of the
injustices that have been carried out by successive governments
when dealing or rather, not dealing with matters arising from
the "troubles".
My wife, then 17 years old, was caught up in
the explosion at Oxford street bus depot in Belfast on "bloody
Friday" 1972, as a result of this she suffered lacerations
to her face, her back and was left with a perforated ear drum
not to mention shock and trauma and in later years agoraphobia.
Under Northern Ireland law at the time, my wife
was not allowed to claim criminal injuries compensation in her
own right as she was not old enough, however, her mother although
well intentioned was meant to do this on her behalf but due to
her own injuries received in the same explosion, failed to do
so.
I was a serving soldier at the time and arrived
in Belfast for a tour of duty a few weeks after "bloody Friday"
but obviously due to my military commitments was equally unable
to pursue compensation on my wife's behalf. The fortunate part
of this story is that because of military influence and the obvious
dangers my wife was flown out of Belfast to my home base in Osnabruck,
Germany and while this put my mind at ease it in no way gave my
wife the compensation she deserved.
I am certain that my wife is not the only victim
of the violence of terrorism in Ulster that has never been given
appropriate recompense for her injuries and that it is more than
likely that she never will, however, while we are prepared to
live with and accept that this is the case, it hardly needs to
be said that the current proposal where bereaved terrorists families
are to receive compensation at any level leaves us cold, her as
an innocent victim and I as an ex soldier find this abhorrent
and totally unjust.
This will not in any way go towards the healing
process and make any inroads into ensuring a lasting peace but
will be divisive and reopen old wounds, leading to bitterness
and a lack of trust that will last for years to come.
While my wife and I are probably insignificant
in the bigger picture, we still feel strongly about this issue.
We therefore humbly request that you and your
committee take the innocent and their lack of justice into account
when making any decisions or recommendations to parliament and
refuse this compensation to the family of any terrorist of any
side, anything else, only increases the hurt and creates an even
greater sense of injustice.
I am prepared to return my campaign medal to
register my personal horror at these proposals and much as I am
aware that this is insignificant to anyone other than me, I feel
it to be the least I can do.
10 February 2009
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