Peace activist killed for being Catholic
Reports obtained from:
(1) Irish Republican News, (2) The Irish Times
Tuesday, 26 May, 2009
Friday-Thursday, 22-28 May, 2009
Wednesday, 27 May, 2009
Friday, 29 May, 2009
Friday-Thursday, 29 May-4 June, 2009
PSNI 'never moved' during fatal Coleraine attack
By Irish Republican News
The Police Ombudsman is to investigate reports that a PSNI unit stood by and watched as Catholic father-of-four Kevin McDaid was beaten to death on Sunday evening.
Mr McDaid was set upon by a loyalist mob near his home in Coleraine on Sunday after a gang of fifty men shouting unionist paramilitary slogans converged on the Catholic area of the town.
They entered one nationalist estate and started to take down Irish tricolours before attacking residents.
One eyewitness said Mr McDaid had just come out of his house to check up on his sons when he was set upon.
"He was about 10 yards from me and 10 to 15 [assailants] beat him to the floor. Someone said he was hit with some sort of bat. I saw his wife running towards him and a couple of other women crowding around him.
"He got up and clung on to his son. He was helping him up the road and they had got him as far as his house but he collapsed.
"It looked to me that he was taking a seizure. All of a sudden he stopped breathing and his lips turned blue."
Another local Catholic man, Damian Fleming, was attacked by the same mob. He is currently in hospital where he is in serious condition.
Mr McDaid's wife, Evelyn, said her husband's death was the the work of the unionist paramilitary UDA.
Mrs McDaid was herself badly beaten as she attempted to defend her husband. She said the gang shouted "We're from the UDA" as they carried out the fatal attack.
Lcal SDLP assembly member John Dallat said it was a UDA "lynch mob" who murdered Mr McDaid, and that the organisation still held Coleraine "in a stranglehold".
However, both Mrs McDaid and Mr Dallat's allegations were challenged by the PSNI.
Assistant PSNI Chief Alistair Finlay said there was "no evidence this was anything other than a maverick group of yobs".
His claim was seen as an attempt to quell nationalist outrage, which was also been fuelled by the reported failure of the PSNI to intervene as the fatal attack took place. The incident is being widely compared to the murder of Robert Hamill in Portadown in 1997, currently the subject of a public inquiry.
Mr McDaid's son Ryan said the PSNI stood by and did nothing during the attack.
"The police sat and watched as Dad died, they never moved," he said.
"There were four police officers in a car and they sat and watched from Pates Lane. They never moved, never came, never helped.
"Before I rang the police on my mobile I was shouting at them [the police in the waiting patrol car]. They didn't want to know, they were 100 yards away. They saw the whole thing and did nothing.
"He died in my arms, dad was staggering up the road, he had gone out to help Damien. Damien was getting beaten and I rang the police on my mobile. Four or five times I rang 999. They said they were coming.
"When dad staggered up and he fell I was trying to bring him around again and I rang the ambulance on my mobile as he was in my arms. Police arrived in a van and ran up and gave Dad CPR but it was too little too late."
Sinn Fein Stormont junior Minister Gerry Kelly condemned those responsible for the murder. He urged anyone with information to bring it forward to the PSNI and called for no retaliation.
Sending hid condolences to the McDaid family, he said:
"Sectarianism has no place in our society and must be challenged and faced down by all political and community leaders.
"Society demands a united approach to face those people down who are determined to drag us back to darker days, they cannot be allowed to succeed and that is why the Assembly must stand shoulder to shoulder in telling sectarian thugs like those responsible for the murder of Kevin McDaid, that they have no place in our communities."
Copyright © 2009 Irish Republican News
Friday-Thursday, 22-28 May, 2009
Mob rule in Coleraine
By Irish Republican News
The family of Kevin McDaid have accused the PSNI of being culpable in his murder by a loyalist mob.
The Catholic father-of-four was beaten to death in Coleraine, County Derry on Sunday by a gang linked to the unionist paramilitary UDA. A second man, Damien Fleming, is on life support following the orchestrated attack.
The McDaid family have said the PSNI were involved in "negotiations" with the loyalists on the day of his murder. Thjey expressed concern that violence had been threatened unless certain demands were met - and those threats were carried out, with deadly effect.
The PSNI Chief Hugh Orde has admitted talks had been taking place but denied the force could have prevented the attack. Controversially, a PSNI unit which was present during the attempted double murder failed to intervene and could have saved Mr McDaid's life.
It is known that Irish tricolour flags which were flying in the predominately nationalist area were a target for the loyalists on the day of the assault. Mr McDaid, a cross-community worker and who had married a Protestant, had been involved in efforts to deal with the issue.
In a statement, the family said it was "a fundamental tenet of a civilised society that individuals such as these should not dictate the terms of law and order."
They said they were "further concerned that given the prior knowledge of the threat, neither we nor our neighbours were properly protected by the police.
"We want the community to support the police, but equally police must also support the community."
Nationalists had been told that an "agreement" had been reached between loyalists and the PSNI in the town that the flying of tricolours in the area on Sunday would be "tolerated" as long as they were taken down the following morning.
However, it is understood two car loads of loyalists armed with sticks, pick-axes and baseball bats left a car park in the New Market Lane area in the town centre at around 9pm and made their way to the nationalist area on the other side of the bridge, where the attack happened.
A crowd of up to 50 loyalists entered the nationalist Pates Lane area, some of them arriving in taxis, and started to take down the flags.
Mr McDaid and Mr Fleming, who were just yards from each other when the attack began, were quickly beaten to the ground.
A witness said he heard a girl ask the gang to leave Mr Fleming alone because "he's only an oul' man" but was told "he's still a taig".
Mr Fleming was then kicked repeatedly about the head as he lay on the ground. Mr McDaid was attacked after he came out of his home to make sure one of his sons was not caught up in the trouble.
"He was about 10 yards from me and 10 to 15 beat him to the floor. Someone said he was hit with some sort of bat," the witness said.
"I saw his wife running towards him and a couple of other women crowding around him.
"He got up and clung on to his son, he was helping him up the road and they had got him as far as his house but he collapsed.
"It looked to me that he was taking a seizure. All of a sudden he stopped breathing and his lips turned blue."
Mr McDaid's wife, Evelyn, suffered bruising and cuts to the head during the attack.
His friend, Mr Fleming, was described "an easy target" as he is not very mobile. This was the second time he had been attacked by loyalists in two years.
The PSNI were also strongly criticised for a crude propoganda attempt to deny the common knowledge in the area that the UDA were behind the attack.
Mrs McDaid herself said those who assaulted her and her husband "called themselves the UDA". It was also revealed that one of six people being held for the murder has worked as a political representative of the UDA in the past.
Her son Ryan, who witnessed the murder, denounced the PSNI for failing to intervene while the murders took place.
"I was shouting at them [the police in the waiting patrol car]. They didn't want to know, they were 100 yards away. They saw the whole thing and did nothing."
Ryan was subsequently informed about a death threat to his life by the PSNI, who have refused to name the source of the threat.
John Dallat, an SDLP Assembly member, said it was time for straight talking from the British government about the ongoing activities of the UDA and other loyalists in places such as Coleraine.
"Today we had to listen to Paul Goggins, who is supposed to be in charge of our security, saying there is no evidence that Kevin McDaid's death was part of an organised threat from loyalist murder gangs.
"At precisely the same time on the same radio station, we heard that the PSNI have informed the son of the murder victim that they have received information that his life is under threat.
"We constantly have to listen to the Northern Ireland Office going softly, softly against the loyalist murder gangs, which still hold on to their arsenals. It is time we got a bit of straight talking from NIO ministers.
"The people who battered Kevin McDaid to death told him they were from the UDA and there is no reason to disbelieve them. The threat may be a bit disorganised, it may not have had clearance from the relevant brigadier, but it is no less murderous for that. There should be no more easy ride for these murder gangs."
The Sinn Fein councillor in Coleraine, Bill Leonard, said the death threat to Ryan McDaid was the ultimate insult.
"The world is sickened by Kevin's murder, yet cancerous Coleraine still spews out its loyalist sectarian bile and hatred," he said.
"This family have suffered enough. They must be able to grieve without further pressure. Those loyalists responsible must now publicly withdraw the threat and close down forever, and the police need to confirm which loyalist group the threat emanates from."
Standing alongside PSNI Chief Hugh Orde and First Minister Peter Robinson at Stormont, Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness said it was vital "that all of us are seen to be standing together".
He was standing on the same spot at Stormont where he condemned the Real IRA and Continuity IRA as "traitors" following two deadly attacks on the British Crown forces.
"We are outraged at the incidents two months ago, but we have to be equally outraged at these actions that we have seen in recent days," he said.
"There is a huge responsibility on all of us to face up to the deep-rooted sectarianism that is there in some parts of the North."
Copyright © 2009 Irish Republican News
Friday-Thursday, 22-28 May, 2009
Peace activist killed for being Catholic
By Irish Republican News
Kevin McDaid was killed for the crime of being Catholic -- but his Protestant wife Evelyn, who was also viciously attacked, has said he simply wanted peace.
"He tried to help. He didn't want all this tension and fighting that is going on here," she said.
"But those boys came across from the other side of the town and can do what they want."
Fighting back tears, a heartbroken Mrs McDaid said the perpetrators had destroyed her family.
"He just loved me to bits. He was my life.
"He loving father and a great neighbour. He was a great man and I am going to miss him so much.
"I don't know how I am going to go on without him.
"We'd been together since we were 15 - we've been married for 24 years and we thought we had a lot more years together.
"He was my soulmate. It's over. I have to try and go on by he was a big part of my life and I can never replace that. Never," she continued.
Kevin McDaid was a plasterer by trade but volunteered with a local cross community youth group. He had only recently returned from taking Catholic and Protestant children on a fishing trip and had planned to repeat the excursion over the Twelfth of July.
Speaking from her home at Somerset Drive where she was being comforted by her four sons, she recalled her husband's kindness.
"He was hard working. He would have done anything for anybody. He had time for everybody. He was great with his sons and we have a wee foster son Ryan and Kevin just loved him to bits. He called him Daddy and he calls me Mummy.
"Kevin just loved children -- he played with all the neighbours children too."
His widow who suffered severe bruising to her face and body and has a large wound on her head had to have a brain scan.
"I came across to help and they beat me where they beat him. My neighbour had to step in to save me. She was pregnant and they beat her too. She shouted 'I am pregnant' and they didn't care.
"My husband walked up with my son and he was talking then all of a sudden he just dropped. My sons tried to work on him. The ambulance was phoned and in the end I knew he was dead."
NO JUSTICE
The mother of murdered Catholic schoolboy Michael McIlveen visited the grieving family.
Gina McIlveen spoke of her "devastation" at the murder of Mr McDaid.
She and other family members brought a huge bouquet of flowers with them as they tried to offer some comfort to Mr McDaid's grieving wife and children.
Ms McIlveen's son Michael was punched, kicked and beaten with a baseball bat in an alleyway by a gang of Protestant teenagers in May 2006.
He died hours later in hospital.
"I hoped this would never happen again," Ms McIlveen said.
"Is it ever going to end? It'll never end.
"Another woman has lost a husband through in the same way that I lost Michael.
"I am just shocked and devastated.
"Seeing all these Celtic shirts and flowers is just like Michael all over again.
"It just makes me feel sick to my stomach.
"All I could tell them was that I went through the same thing. It's happening round here and it has been happening eleswhere."
Ms McIlveen said she could offer no comfort that those who had carried out the murder would be punished adequately.
"There's no justice.
"I've not got justice for my son even now," she said.
"They were trying to make a big show out of us."
Her comments came as a representative from the attorney general's office was expected to travel from London to meet members of the McIlveen family.
The McIlveens will hand over a petition to Baroness Scotland tomorrow calling for tougher sentences to be imposed in Michael McIlveen's murder case.
The attorney general is expected to decide later this week whether the sentences imposed on four men convicted of murdering the 15-year-old were too lenient and should be referred to the Court of Appeal.
Earlier this month four Ballymena men were given life sentences but then told they must serve only between 10 and 13 years in prison before being considered for release.
Copyright © 2009 Irish Republican News
UDA alleged to be involved in murder
By The Irish Times
McDaid family protection fears
By The Irish Times
The family of murder victim Kevin McDaid are to make a formal complaint to the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman.
In a statement released through their solicitors this morning the family said they are concerned they were not offered proper protection from the police on the night of the murder in Coleraine, Co Derry, last Sunday.
The statement reads: “The family wish to make it clear that they are concerned that the PSNI were involved in negotiations with a number of persons perceived to be from the Loyalist community on Sunday the 24th of May 2009.
“They are concerned regarding the nature of these negotiations and the attendant claim that threats were made by individuals from this background to police that violence would ensue unless certain demands made by them were met.
“It is a fundamental tenet of a civilised society that individuals such as these should not dictate the terms of law and order.
“We are further concerned that given the prior knowledge of the threat, neither we and nor our neighbours were not properly protected by police.
“We want the community to support the police, but equally police must also support the community.”
Father of four, Mr McDaid (49), was attacked and killed by a loyalist mob in near his home last Sunday night. The mob also attacked his wife, a pregnant neighbour and later left Damien Fleming (46) critically injured in hospital.
The family said given Mr Fleming’s condition and a death threat to Mr McDaid’s son tensions in the area “remain high”.
“Kevin lived helping others. His short life was spent trying to bridge the divide that exists in our community. His death at the hands of people who have nothing to offer our community should not be allowed to undo his life’s work,” they added.
Copyright © 2009 The Irish Times
Friday-Thursday, 29 May-4 June, 2009
PSNI man directed murder mob
By Irish Republican News
A member of the PSNI is believed to have been behind last week's sectarian loyalist mob assault in Coleraine in which one man died and another was left critically injured.
According to the Sunday World newspaper, a text message sent by a member of the PSNI encourged the loyalist attack. It said that Irish tricolours [flags] "are still up" in "the Heights", a mainly Catholic area in the predominately Protestant town.
"Are yous men or what", the message said, implying that a previously threatened attack should go ahead.
The report followed revelations that the PSNI were in negotiations with loyalists over the presence of Irish flags in the town last Sunday. Violence had been threatened unless the flags were removed, but the loyalists had been urged by the PSNI to allow time for their removal.
But just hours later, the mob assualt in which father-of-four Kevin McDaid died was triggered by the text from a so-called "rogue cop".
It prompted up to 50 loyalists to leave a bar where they were drinking, organise several taxis and crossed the bridge over the River Bann to "invade" the area.
Mr McDaid was beaten to death when the mob stormed the area. HIs wife and a pregnant female friend were turned on when they tried to intervene to save him.
Eight men have been charged in connection with the murder and attempted murder. A ninth man has been charged with affray.
A key witness in the the "invasion" of the Heights area has now been told his life is under threat from the loyalist murder gang.
"I have been told my life is under threat because I gave evidence to police. I know they want me dead. They have wanted me dead for a long time. I will not let them intimidate me," said Peter Neil, who witnessed the attacks.
McDaid's son Ryan has also been warned his life is under threat. The 22-year-old, who was informed of the threat against him last week, said he would not be intimidated by them.
As around 100 mourners paid respects to the McDaid family at their home on Friday evening, a loyalist flute parade could clearly be heard passing through the town.
On a night of high tension, the Pride of the Bann flute band ignored calls to cancel their parade, only stopping short of entering the Heights. At least one of the men charged with the attacks are members of the band.
In the old days, the river marked a clear boundary between the wealthy Protestant area of town and the Catholic ghetto.
A curfew bell used to ring through Coleraine nightly at 9pm. The bell tolled for the town's Catholics, instructing them to return across the river Bann to their homes in Killowen. By the time the practice ended in 1954, the tolling had been relegated from instruction to tradition, but still held huge symbolic significance. The town council's decision to discontinue the practice was informed by budgetary considerations, rather than any attempt at conciliation.
The town's old divisions was marked again on Friday when the loyalist band marched up to the bridge to play triumphalist tunes towards the nationalist community.
Mr McDaid's nephew Declan Kennedy said the parade was "disrespectful" to his uncle's memory.
"There's fear in this estate," he said. "Nobody wants more trouble but that's what the parade means -- trouble. I know they're not crossing the river now but it should have been called off, it's disrespectful to his memory, everyone thinks so."
The parade passed off without incident. But the open disdain towards the Catholic community was further exposed when senior unionist politicians boycotted Mr McDaid's funeral.
Despite the traditional words of condemnation following the murder, unionists such as DUP 'Culture Minister' Gregory Campbell swiftly turned their back on the McDaid family when urged to show their support.
Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness said: "The only thing absent from Coleraine was the long white cloaks, the white hoods and the burning crucifixes. This was KKK stuff."
He urged Mr Campbell, as MP for the Coleraine area where the killing took place, to take steps to end "the major problem of sectarianism in Coleraine".
The Deputy First Minister pointed out that Mr Campbell refuses to speak to him, despite the pair working in government together, and said his stance was reflected in a lack of community dialogue.
"I want him to show real leadership. I want him to recognise the importance of contributing in a positive and constructive way by encouraging people in the Coleraine area to engage in dialogue.
"And indeed, to encourage him to engage in dialogue."
In a muted response to the attack, only a few hundred people attended a rally against sectarianism outside Belfast's city hall on Tuesday.
Protestant and Catholic clergymen addressed the crowd before Irish Congress of Trade Unions president Patricia McKeown called for an end to hate crime.
"We stood in front of the city hall over recent months for many, many reasons," she said, telling the crowd that similar rallies had opposed job losses, violence in the Middle East and dissident republican murder in Northern Ireland.
She added: "We said there was no going back... but we say today equally, there is no going forward in this society while sectarianism remains unchecked and unchallenged."
Copyright © 2009 Irish Republican News