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Assassinato Gerard Davison, ex leader IRA

Former IRA leader Gerard ‘Jock’ Davison shot dead in south Belfast

Assassinio di Gerard Davison | © Stephen Hamilton, Presseye
A former IRA leader has been shot dead in south Belfast.

Gerard ‘Jock’ Davison was shot on Tuesday morning in the Markets area.

Police are responding to a shooting incident in Welsh Street on Tuesday morning.

A spokeswoman for the PSNI said details are still coming in at present.

Nolan Show reporter Nicola Weir said: “There have been quite distressing scenes here.

“A number of children and adults arrived here, some of them running across the road screaming ‘daddy, daddy’.”

The ex-IRA man was working as a community worker in the Markets district.

He was quizzed about the murder of f 33-year-old Robert McCartney outside Magennis’s Bar in Belfast city-centre in January 2005, but was later released without charge.

No-one has been convicted for the murder of Mr McCartney (right), a father-of-two from the Short Strand, who was beaten and stabbed to death outside Magennis’s bar in Belfast city centre in January 2005.

Robert McCartney (33) was killed after trying to help his friend, Brendan Devine, who had become involved in a row in Magennis’s. It was alleged that the IRA’s Belfast commander ordered the murder after the argument.

In 2007 the victim’s sister made the claim that he ordered the murder.

In an interview with Sunday Life, Gerard ‘Jock’ Davison claimed “I’m no tout” after the murder-victim’s sister, Catherine, posed the question in her new book, Walls of Silence.

Davison said at the time: “I never, ever gave any information on my comrades or my friends during my 25 years in the republican movement. Any republican who knows me knows this.

“There is not one shred of truth in this suggestion that I was an agent. It would take Al Hutchinson or Jane Winters from BIRW just five minutes to establish this fact.

“I challenge the McCartneys to make a complaint immediately and I will co-operate fully with any investigation.

“Considering a family of their experience and the high-profile campaign they launched, you would have thought they would have come forward long before now.”

And he added: “The days of informers hiding behind their handlers or being protected is over. Why don’t the McCartneys just go down the Raymond McCord route?

“I have no fear there is a scrap of evidence which proves I ever gave information.

“I also think it’s important for the (Police) Ombudsman to explore the police investigation into this case. They should explore issues such as how the media were waiting outside the homes of suspects and how they knew suspects had kept quiet during interviews.”

The senior republican also dismissed claims in the book that he told the murder-gang to “do what you want” with Robert McCartney.

SDLP south Belfast Westminster candidate Dr Alasdair McDonnell said it was a “horrendous crime”.

He said: “This is a horrendous crime and those responsible have shown no regard for anyone that could have been caught in the middle of it during the school rush hour. Witnesses have described how the man was shot in the street.

“My thoughts and prayers are with the individual’s family at this traumatic time.

“People here want to move on from the violence of the past. This community will reject those who bring murder and mayhem to our streets. I would appeal to anyone with any information to bring it forward as soon as possible.”

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René Querin

Di professione grafico e web designer, sono appassionato di trekking e innamorato dell'Irlanda e della sua storia. Insieme ad Andrea Varacalli ho creato e gestisco Les Enfants Terribles.

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