7 October 1999 Edition

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Strange fruit in Portadown

No justice for Robert Hamill



by Laura Friel

When Blues singer Billy Holiday sang [ITALICS]''Strange Fruit'' a song about white lynch mob attacks on Black Americans in the 1940s, she was highlighting not only racist attacks but also the lack of justice in a state where black lives and deaths were incidental.

''Southern trees bear a strange fruit, blood on the leaves and blood at the root, black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.''

It's a powerful image, and it's that image which came to mind when the Director of Public Prosecutions announced last week that the RUC officers who did nothing to stop a loyalist mob kicking Portadown Catholic Robert Hamill to death would not face prosecution. Charges against five loyalists involved in the killing have already been dropped. A sixth was convicted of disorderly behaviour and walked free just over two months after his conviction.

Of course Robert Hamill's killers did not hang their victim from the nearest tree - they knocked him unconscious and jumped up and down on his head shouting, ``Die, you Fenian Bastard, die''. Technically, Robert's killers are not racists but bigots. Robert was identified as a target by the mob because he was walking away from a Catholic hall towards a Catholic estate.

Fenian is not a racial term of abuse, it's not even sectarian. The distinction is political. Irish, Catholic, Nationalist, Paddy, Taig, Fenian, but in the end it was all one for Robert Hamill. The form it takes may differ, but the results of anti Irish racism are grotesquely the same. From the charred remains of the Quinn children, the mangled body of Rosemary Nelson to the unrecognisable face of Robert Hamill.

''Pass a little scene of the gallant South, the bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, scent of magnolia sweet and fresh, then the sudden smell of burning flesh.''

And then there is the RUC. For up to 20 minutes, armed RUC officers on duty in a Land Rover, parked less than 15 yards away in full view of the killing, did nothing. The RUC had anticipated possible trouble by loyalists outside St Patrick's Hall in Portadown town centre that night. A mobile RUC patrol was specifically deployed in the vicinity.

At one stage during the attack, a female cousin of Robert Hamill pleaded with the four RUC officers in the Land Rover to intervene. They did not respond. A witness has testified that shortly before the loyalist attack he had approached the RUC patrol and warned them of impending trouble. He was ignored.

An ambulance arrived before any of the RUC officers emerged out of their vehicle. Robert's cousin Siobhan, in a desperate attempt to shield him from further attack, had thrown herself across Robert's stricken form. One RUC officer told her to turn the unconscious man on his side. He offered no assistance.

When the ambulance arrived, the loyalist mob still had not dispersed. They crowded around the injured man, blocking the road and forcing the ambulance to reverse. The loyalist mob was unmasked. Despite the presence of the RUC they made no attempt to hide their identity. And their confidence was justly rewarded. No arrests were made. A few questions were asked but no names taken. At the scene of crime, the RUC remained predictably disinterested.

''Here's a fruit for the crows to pluck, for the rain to gather and the wind to suck, for the sun to ripe, for the tree to drop, here is a strange and bitter crop.''

We know of one thing the RUC did do. They lied. They lied about the circumstances of Robert Hamill's killing and they lied about their response to it. An RUC press release on the day of the incident claimed there had been ``a clash between rival factions''. The lies continued, ``police moved in to separate the groups...'' until the ``police themselves came under attack by a section of the crowd''.

Three days later and the RUC were still covering their tracks. In a further RUC press release on 30 April, they claimed ``a police Land Rover crew... were alerted to a disturbance and immediately intervened to gain order and prevent assaults. The numbers involved, however, were such that these officers were unable to contain the situation and became themselves the subject of attack.''

With details of the attack emerging in the media by 7 May, the RUC changed their story.''It now appears clear that four people, two couples who had left a social event in St Patrick's Hall, were set upon by a large crowd.'' On 8 May 1997, Robert Hamill died, having never regained consciousness. By now it was a murder inquiry but the RUC were still dragging their heels.

An anonymous call to a local priest named a number of men involved in the attack. The men were subsequently charged by the RUC with the murder. The caller also claimed that one of these men was involved in a karate club also attended by one of the RUC officers in the Land Rover at the scene of the attack.

Five loyalists, Allister Hanvey, Wayne Lunt, Paul Hobson, Dean Forbes and Stacey Bridgett appeared in court on murder charges on the day Robert Hamill was buried. A sixth man was charged a day later. Charges against five of the men were later dropped and the case against the sixth ended in farce. Paul Hobson was convicted of disorderly behaviour in March 1999 and released in May of the same year.

Since the murder of Robert Hamill, his family have been targeted for sectarian abuse and harassment by loyalists within town and also members of the RUC. Last week the DPP announced the four RUC officers who failed to intervene during the killing would not face prosecution.

Internal disciplinary action against the officers has not yet been ruled out but there is little room for optimism. Through the auspices of the Independent Commission for Police Complaints, the RUC will now investigate itself.

For the Hamill family there are only two possible options. The distressing and potentially financially crippling option of pursuing private prosecutions. And the final option to join the long queue of other nationalist victims and their relatives campaigning for an independent public inquiry.

Strange fruit in Portadown and for northern nationalists a very bitter crop.

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