In the following week RUC Chief Constable Hugh Annesley announced that a senior detective had been appointed to lead an investigation into Dermot McShane's death. The police appealed for witnesses to come forward to assist in this investigation. To date the security forces have not offered any further details about the circumstances relating to Dermot McShane's death.
On the morning of 13 July the Pat Finucane Centre and the Committee on the Administration of Justice, appealed for witnesses to give statements relating to the riots. Ten of the people who gave statements, including a journalist and a legal observer, were witnesses to the death of Dermot McShane and to events before and after. Some of the witnesses report that prior to Dermot's death Great James' Street had become chock-a-block with saxons, landrovers and troop carriers. Others attest to the hostile attitude of the security forces during the build-up to the incident in which Dermot McShane was killed. Witnesses state that the soldiers had psyched themselves up in rugby-style huddles before going in and firing plastic bullets from the advancing cordon. The drivers of both saxons and landrovers had revved their engines prior to charging at the rioters at high speed. The soldiers then withdrew before charging again in a pincer manoeuvre designed to entice and trap the less fearful rioters. Witnesses spoke of "pandemonium" and "blood lust" in their description of military attitudes before the fatal security forces advance. Most of the witnesses talked of the continuous firing of plastic bullets by the RUC and the army. Estimates given by them of the number of plastic bullets fired on that night on Little James' Street are at odds with the official estimates given by the security forces. One witness:
"asked an army officer why they were firing so many plastic bullets and he replied `They deserve it'". An RUC sniper said `its time for the lead'. Other RUC officers said that it was the most they had ever fired and on at least five occasions I saw soldiers and RUC personnel using brush shafts to try and clear jammed weapons that they said were over heating. One group told me it was not a common occurrence and `what do you expect when its like this'. In a four and a half hour period I personally witnessed over thirty ammunition boxes, each containing 25 rounds being brought forward, emptied and discarded by the RUC alone. The army had their own supply and they were firing on a par with the RUC. They were quite literally ankle deep in plastic bullet casings and had to clear the area around them a number of times."We reprint here excerpts from the statement given to the Pat Finucane Centre by the man to whom the RUC, in their press release of 17 July, have specifically appealed to come forward to help with their investigation. Before giving his statement, the man told the centre that he would not be going to the RUC with his statement because he regards the RUC as a totality discredited and unacceptable police force.
"The crowd at Little James' Street were up close to the cordon. Some people were behind a boarding and the skip... The order to move forward was given ... and orders to baton gunners was given to fire volleys once the line had been achieved to the end of the Post Office wall. Another order was `anything moves hit it'. I was in the middle of the road about 20-25 feet behind the cordon and I could see through the gap where the saxon and RUC landrover were and that some of the crowd were holding their ground but as the cordon moved forward at walking pace firing plastics at will, the crowd rapidly dispersed in all directions... One of the saxons moved further forward faster than the rest of the cordon... I gathered that someone was behind the boarding, maybe two to three persons. The saxon hit the boarding knocking it to the ground. It stopped momentarily for possibly 2 to 3 seconds and moved forward. The rest of the cordon moved quickly to where the saxon was and took up a position at the end of the wall firing plastics continuously. All of a sudden I could see a body lying on the ground with another man cradling him. He was screaming for help. `Please help us....please somebody help us'."In nearly all of the statements the British Army saxon is described as having paused as it hit the hoarding behind which Dermot McShane had fallen. It then drove up onto it and stopped on the top of the hoarding before driving off. When the vehicle hit the board, say the witnesses, the army must have known that there was someone there, because the hoarding couldn't have stayed upright on its own and because the man's legs could be seen sticking out after it fell. Visibility was good. The street-lights were on and a helicopter spotlight was illuminating the area where Dermot McShane fell. When the vehicle drove onto the hoarding one witness shouted "there's a fella underneath". Another that "there's a man underneath that board". Another statement describes someone screaming at the driver of the vehicle to stop. A number of people are said then to have rushed to assist McShane. This did not stop the security forces from continuing their advance, firing plastic bullets and batoning anyone trying to help the fatally injured man.
"At this point I held my hands in the air and waved them frantically and knelt down and shouted, pointing with my right and waving with my left to plead with them to stop. I was trying to indicate as clearly as I could that there was a man underneath the hoarding. They continued to drive towards us and drove over the hoarding. I was still waving and pointing. Then a group of police men attacked, batoning me before they moved on. Then soldiers came and started to baton me. I continued to shout frantically about McShane but they did not listen, they continued to hit me."The contempt with which the fatally injured man was treated at this stage and the aggressive intent of the military operation which led to those injuries are in direct contrast to the official version which suggests that the death was an accident and that the attitude of the security forces was bona fide.