26 June 1997 Edition
Duffy being ``stitched up''
Friends of Collie Duffy, the Lurgan man charged with killing two RUC men in Lurgan last Monday 16 June, say he is being held on the evidence of a woman they describe as ``suggestible'' who has been pressurised into making a witness statement.
Duffy was at the centre of a miscarriage of justice case when he was released last year after serving three and a half years for the killing of a British soldier. He had been convicted on the evidence of Lindsay Robb, a member of the UVF who is currently serving ten years after being convicted of attempting to smuggle arms from Scotland. Robb's evidence was discredited and Duffy was released. Duffy's friends say he is once again being ``stitched up'' by the RUC.
Meanwhile in the Kilwilkie Estate in Lurgan the crown forces have carried out a series of raids on nationalist homes as they continued their follow-up operations after the killing of the two RUC members.
Local people yesterday complained to An Phoblacht that during searches of homes the RUC were ``aggressive and abusive''.
One man whose home was targeted on Tuesday 24 June for the second time said that ``the RUC came to my home and immediately began to verbally abuse me''. In the course of the raid the RUC took children's clothes that the family had bought for their holidays.
When the man's wife went to Lurgan RUC barracks to complain about the RUC behaviour the RUC refused to deal with her.
Local Sinn Féin councillor John O'Dowd said the ongoing operation was ``a concerted campaign of harassment against the people of Kilwilkie''.
O'Dowd said that since the crown forces moved into the area last Monday and threatened Jackie Scullion, who is eight months pregnant, the tone was set.
During a raid on Ms Scullion's house the RUC refused entry to the woman's family and threatened to shoot when her family members pushed through an RUC cordon.
``Two people were bitten when dogs were set on a crowd that had gathered. A woman was bitten as was a young boy when a dog jumped at his arm,'' said O'Dowd. He added that at checkpoints operated by RIR soldiers residents of the estate have been threatened and told their details would be handed over to loyalists connected to the LVF.
Duffy was at the centre of a miscarriage of justice case when he was released last year after serving three and a half years for the killing of a British soldier. He had been convicted on the evidence of Lindsay Robb, a member of the UVF who is currently serving ten years after being convicted of attempting to smuggle arms from Scotland. Robb's evidence was discredited and Duffy was released. Duffy's friends say he is once again being ``stitched up'' by the RUC.
Meanwhile in the Kilwilkie Estate in Lurgan the crown forces have carried out a series of raids on nationalist homes as they continued their follow-up operations after the killing of the two RUC members.
Local people yesterday complained to An Phoblacht that during searches of homes the RUC were ``aggressive and abusive''.
One man whose home was targeted on Tuesday 24 June for the second time said that ``the RUC came to my home and immediately began to verbally abuse me''. In the course of the raid the RUC took children's clothes that the family had bought for their holidays.
When the man's wife went to Lurgan RUC barracks to complain about the RUC behaviour the RUC refused to deal with her.
Local Sinn Féin councillor John O'Dowd said the ongoing operation was ``a concerted campaign of harassment against the people of Kilwilkie''.
O'Dowd said that since the crown forces moved into the area last Monday and threatened Jackie Scullion, who is eight months pregnant, the tone was set.
During a raid on Ms Scullion's house the RUC refused entry to the woman's family and threatened to shoot when her family members pushed through an RUC cordon.
``Two people were bitten when dogs were set on a crowd that had gathered. A woman was bitten as was a young boy when a dog jumped at his arm,'' said O'Dowd. He added that at checkpoints operated by RIR soldiers residents of the estate have been threatened and told their details would be handed over to loyalists connected to the LVF.