Witnessed: Elizabeth F. Murray
This statement was interrupted by the arrival of the RUC who wished to interview her re her complaint made at Castlereagh. I took the rest of the statement at a later date.
The second day of my stay in Castlereagh started about 5am, when the policewoman turns the light up. You are left there until about 7.30 am, until the breakfast comes in. I couldn’t eat mine. You have your breakfast in your cell, about seven minutes. I asked to get washed and they let me. I was very sick but could not vomit, so I asked for the doctor. They said I could see him when he came. I was still shaking a lot. About 9.30am they opened the door. Two young men were there. I thought it was for interviews but they asked my name and I told them. They asked me was I Raymond Crane’s sister. When I said, ‘No, his wife’, they started to laugh. They told me to stand straight and walk up and down, turn around. Then they said, ‘All right, bastard’. The one who did the talking had a beard. I was very nervous after that and I was glad when the doctor came. I asked the doctor for a medical. I told him that I couldn’t stop shaking and that the Branch men were shouting at me for it. So he called the policewoman to come while he examined me. I was at least eight stone weight when I was arrested, but was only seven stone four pounds when weighed. I told him I was about eight stone before I was arrested. He said it wasn’t possible and was quite angry. He said there was nothing wrong with me except nerves. He put me on three valiums a day. I went back to the cell. Not long afterwards a man brought me down to the interview rooms, as they called them.
Fourth interrogation
There was another man there and a woman. It was the same girl [as] was there on Monday night. She said had I thought it over, what they said last night, and was I going to tell the truth. She started shouting again, ‘You are lying. You planted the fire-bombs. You are in Cumann na mBan, are you?’ I wasn’t and I never planted any fire-bombs, but they kept on about them. They then started about my husband again and said he was in the IRA and I was in it too. They then started about Ciarán, my son. They asked had I a pram. I told them he was out of his pram a month now and he walked. They said he was out of the pram because I was tired putting guns and bombs in it. I said there was nothing in his pram, that he had a buggy when he was young. They laughed at that. They said I put guns and bombs in the buggy. Then they said I didn’t care about my son, I was going to jail for fifteen years. One of the men said he had a son the same age as Ciarán and he wouldn’t like to think he would be left in a home because of his mother. I said, ‘Ciarán’s not going to the home’. They said, ‘Why?’ I said I had done nothing and was quite capable of looking after him. They said, ‘You don’t know what you are saying. You planted the fire-bombs and have to do time for it’. They said my mother had reared her family and had a bad heart and wouldn’t be able for a baby at that age, and Raymond’s mother had a young family and couldn’t take care of another. So I would be as well to tell them and they would make sure I would get a suspended sentence and would only be away for six months and six months was better than fifteen years. They said I could get twenty with the things I had done. I said I never did anything, I couldn’t go to jail for nothing. They said I was hurting nobody but myself, I would be as well to tell them everything. I told them I done nothing, I was being held for nothing. So they were quite angry and started shouting at me, calling me a liar. They then said the woman there was a welfare worker and in the police as well and she could put Ciarán in the home or, if I signed a form she had, that she would get him foster parents. I said I never done anything. But they kept on about Ciarán and about jail. I just sat and cried so they would bring me up. I asked if I had been left in clean clothes. So he asked a man. He said ‘yes’, they were up at my cell.
I saw my sister on the passage. She asked me was I all right. I said ‘Yes’. The man pushed me and told me to shut up and walk on. The woman police constable on duty in the passage gave me my clothes and said I could take a shower later because there was someone in the shower.
The interview finished about one. I had a shower and my dinner, although I could eat very little of it. The policewoman opened the door and said there was another doctor in and would I like to see him. I said ‘Yes’. I went into the doctor and he said my mammy had sent him in along with the solicitor. He told me to stop shaking and crying. He took down notes of what had happened to me and said I was all right. I asked him about my little boy. He said he was all right. I told him to tell my sister I was all right when he saw her. I was brought out and put in the cell. I stayed for another half-hour or more, then brought down to the interview room where there was two men.
Fifth interrogation
They started off again about fire-bombs and Cumann na mBan. They finished that interview about five. I had my supper about 5.45.
Sixth interrogation
I was brought out again about seven to the interview again. It was another two men. So they started again about fire-bombs and Cumann na mBan. I told them what I told the other ones. One brought his chair round and sat facing me. He started to push my chair with his foot. I was holding on to the chair and he asked me what was the matter with me. I said I was going to fall off the chair and would hit my head. He said, ‘Don’t worry, haven’t you clean knickers on’ and pulled my skirt away up and started laughing. Then he asked what was I was doing, out shooting at the Brits. I said I wasn’t. They said I was telling lies because I was arrested with my husband and my sister, the one in Castlereagh. I said I wasn’t lifted with my husband or sister and I was not shooting. They said they had it in black and white, was I calling them liars. I told them my husband was in jail from July and they must be telling lies. They kept on.
I was brought to my cell about 11 o’clock or shortly after that. The policewoman turned the light down. I kept on waking up. They put the light on about 5.30.
Seventh interrogation
I was brought out about 9.30 to the interview room. They said they would keep me for seven days, it was nothing to them. I could hear someone getting shouted at and the table getting banged. He said I would get the same if I didn’t hurry up and tell them all I knew. They then said about the electric shock treatment. They said I would get that if I didn’t hurry up. They brought me to the cell about one o’clock.
Eighth interrogation
I was brought down again about two. Again about fire-bombs. The two went out and came back with a piece of paper and said my friends told them I done the shops. I told them I planted no fire-bombs. They said, if I was threatened to do it, I would get off with my health and the child but I better tell them. The door opened and there was about three men there. One told me to walk up and down. Then he said, ‘That’s her’ and closed the door. The man said, ‘Do you know who that was?’ I said ‘No’. He said it was the police officer who had identified me. They kept on changing about. Then two came in and sat down and said they were charging me anyway. I said I never planted any fire-bombs and I want to see my solicitor. They said I was identified, my friends had said, and the judge would believe the police before he would believe me. They then said they would let me out if I told any man’s name in the IRA. I said I didn’t know anybody. They said they would let me out if I kept my eyes opened and watched the movements of them. They said to let them know and they would pay me well. They said they would put the money in my son’s name and nobody would know. They said they would give me a phone number to ring if I saw anything.
I was brought up to my cell. It was 5.10. The man who brought me up said he would be back to give me the phone number. I had my supper and was just lying there waiting for him to come back but he never. It was the longest night I ever spent. I thought they were just going to charge me or keep me for seven days. Then the policewoman opened the door and said I had to see the doctor because I was being released. I asked the time. She said 5.15 Thursday. About 6.15 she opened the door. I signed the release form. I was brought out to a jeep with two girls already there. We waited for the other tw
o and were brought down the Woodstock. The policeman started to laugh and said, ‘Duck your head’. We were let out at the bottom of it. The Woodstock is a Protestant area. We ran over to our side of the road. It was a terrible experience.
Signed: Geraldine Crane
Witness: Fr Raymond Murray
Grand Central Army Post: Patricia Moore, 1977
Prior to the November 1977 sweep on the Short Strand, Belfast, other women had alleged ill-treatment while in custody in Castlereagh Interrogation Centre. Mgr Denis Faul and I included the case of Patricia Moore, Dunmurry, Belfast, aged 18 years, among a number of statements published in The Castlereagh File. It alleges ill-treatment at a military post. This statement was taken by Margaret Gatt of the Association for Legal Justice and was signed by Margaret Moore, Patricia’s mother:
On Wednesday 30 July 1977, I was coming up Castle Street, Belfast, between 3pm and 4pm. I was stopped by a military policewoman. She asked me to open my bag. I had a tape recorder in my bag which was switched on by mistake. She also found a letter in my bag which I had found in a telephone box a few minutes beforehand.
I was then arrested and taken to Grand Central army post. I was put into a cubicle and then taken out and searched in the toilets. After about two hours I was taken in again and asked if I had anything in my pockets. I emptied my pockets and there was a dead match and a piece of tissue in them. I also had a bracelet on my arm which the policewoman dragged off me. She was shouting and yelling at me and saying I was ‘a suspicious bitch’. I did not say a word while this was going on.
I was taken to a room which I took to be a medical room. A young soldier was in the room when I went in. I think he said he represented the medical officer. He asked me about previous illnesses and did I have any scars. Also did I want to be medically examined. I said I had no need to be examined. He asked me to sign a form which I did. He went out but the military policewoman was still there. He came in again and the two of them giggled and laughed about strip searching me. He went out again.
Then a black soldier came in. The military policewoman said, ‘I want her strip searched’. He just walked out. The young soldier came in again and the military policewoman said, ‘She’s gong to be strip searched and you have to leave’. He said something about ‘his luck’. He then left and the black soldier came in again. I was standing facing the wall. The military policewoman came over to me and said, ‘Right, you’re going to be strip searched’. With that the black soldier left again. The military policewoman said, ‘Get your clothes off’. I said, ‘No’. She said, ‘Take them off or I’ll get three or four women to take them off for you’. I said, ‘Go and get them’. She went out for about one minute and came in again with the black soldier. He said, ‘You’d be better to make it easy for yourself’. I said, ‘For what reason should I take off my clothes?’ The military policewoman said, ‘Because you are a suspicious bitch’. I said, ‘I’ve been searched twice before’. She came towards me and grabbed my coat and tried to pull it off me. I resisted and she pushed me and I banged my head off the wall. She lifted her fist and I thought she was going to hit me. I slapped her face and she then hit me on the ear. With this the black soldier came in. She told him that I had hit her and that I wouldn’t take off my clothes.
She left and came back with two other women soldiers. One was a sergeant major. She said to me about ‘making it easier for myself’. I said again that I would not take off my clothes. She asked me again. This time I said I would, if some of them left. I took off my clothes, every stitch. I put my shirt and anorak on very quickly but the military policewoman said, ‘Who gave you permission to get dressed yet?’ With that she grabbed my anorak and a struggle developed. The black soldier must have heard it and came in again. I struggled and kicked like mad but eventually they managed to get me onto the table. They put plastic-like handcuffs on my wrists and on my ankles.
The black soldier was holding my arms and he asked one of the women to hold them so he could search me. He said he could not get at me, so he took the handcuffs off my ankles and he put his finger inside me. I was crying with the pain. They turned me over and he did it again. During this time they were shouting and yelling at me.
When I was getting dressed, this military policewoman kept hitting me on the back with her fist. They questioned me again and said they were going to charge me with assault. I thought I was going to be released then, but instead they took me to Castlereagh where I was kept for twenty-four hours. I was released on Thursday 31 August 1977 at about 8pm.
IV – THE PRISONS
H Blocks: Ill-tratment of Prisoners and Human Rights, 1978
In 1973 Amnesty International reported 70 countries using torture and inhuman and degrading treatment against prisoners and political opponents. In 1977 they named 116, an alarming increase. In December 1975, a resolution sponsored by Amnesty International was passed by the United Nations condemning torture and inhuman and degrading treatment of persons. All the countries affiliated to the United Nations signed it. The conclusion is that either many of these governments are hypocrites or they are unwilling to classify their own treatment of prisoners and political opponents as brutal and inhuman.
The Irish government showed an interest in torture by the agents of the British government in Northern Ireland. They brought them to Strasbourg and won the case. But they did not show the least enthusiasm investigating the serious allegations made against the Irish government by the Barra Ó Briain Report and implement the worthwhile recommendations, namely access of family solicitors and the use of a custodial guardian for prisoners under interrogation. Only after a hearing in the Supreme Court and a Presidential crisis was Seven-Day Detention in the Republic reluctantly suspended.
The British government was very interested in the allegations of brutality against the gardaí síochána and their newspapers and other media gave a very inflated picture of these allegations and of the Amnesty Report of June 1977 (on the Irish Republic). Their crusading liberal spirit, however, disappeared when they themselves were confronted with the finding of the European Commission for Human Rights, January 1976, and the verdict of the European Court, January 1977, and the clinching of the subject by the Amnesty Report, June 1978. They showed no desire to rectify the serious damage and injustice. They were no different from the Russians who have come to Northern Ireland often looking for details of the British torture of the Irish people, but who deeply resent the public searchlight on their labour camps, mental hospitals and treatment of dissidents. So it is with governments. They are all interested in the torture of other governments but not in their own.
It is difficult to get governments to put an end to ill-treatment within their own countries. It is equally difficult to gain the interest of the opposition because they hope to win the next election and they will not risk losing votes by attacking the sacred institutions of the state, the police, the army, the judiciary, the civil service. There is need for real Christian witnesses at the present time, people with professional training, doctors, lawyers, journalists, priests, teachers to answer the demands of the Christian conscience and to stand up for the human rights of the oppressed and dispossessed every day and every week of every year. It is a lonely and unpopular witness that will meet with sneers and smears and misrepresentation from the leaders of state and society. But it is a genuine charity for the end of the century to fight the problem of the individual against the state with its control of power, publicity and patronage. From those who fight this battle will come the prophets, heroes, and saints of our age.
The H Block problem is a classic example of how the state can intimidate genuine Christian people into waffling about basic moral principles. H Block is an obscenity no matter what the prisoners may have been convicted of, justly or unjustly, no matter what protest action they have taken, no matter for what motive or purpose they may have taken it. The state has no right to do wrong. It has no right to ill-treat prisoners. It has no right to break its own laws. It has no right
to break the international covenants on human rights. It has no right to break the moral law.
Leave the questions of political status aside. The factual position is this. The prisoners refused to wear prison clothes and work. These are trivial matters. In the Republic of Ireland prisoners wear their own clothes and prison work is voluntary. The British government removed all remission from the prisoners on protest. Wasn’t that punishment severe enough? Is not the punishment of prison deprivation of liberty? But the British government also in the month of September 1976 imposed an inhuman degree of punishment on the men for this refusal – 24 hour lock-up, no physical exercise, no mental stimulation, harassment by internal body searches, casual beatings. All these taken together over a period of time constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment contrary to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The British government has inflicted all this for thirty months.
It is completely untrue to say that these punishments are self-inflicted. They are inflicted by the British government on persons who have broken trivial regulations, not wearing prison clothes and not working. The fact that in April 1978 the prisoners escalated their protest with a no-wash, no slop-out campaign is not really relevant to the real issue. The prisoners were merely using one of the few forms of protest left to them against an administration which had deprived them of many of the ordinary necessities of life.
State Violence Page 11
