W2C-001 Belfast telegraph 1-3.txt
'Spare my son, kill me'

A Belfast mother begged UFF gunmen to kill her instead of her schoolboy son, an inquest heard yesterday.

Gerard O'Hara (18) died in a hail of bullets as he sat watching television with his mother Bridget at their home at North Queen Street, Belfast, almost a year ago.

Coroner Clifford Tughan heard yesterday that two masked gunmen burst into the house and shot the Belfast Telegraph newsboy, who was wounded 17 times by bullets and fragments.

The UFF later said it carried out the killing, claiming their victim was a member of the Provisional IRA who had taken part in coffee jar bomb attacks on security forces.

Arrests

A detective inspector said, however, that Mr O'Hara had no known connection with terrorist activity and police viewed the killing as purely sectarian.

He said a number of people had been arrested in connection with the crime but were later released without charge. He also said that two guns used had a history of previous use.

In a statement read out at the Belfast inquest, Mrs O'Hara described how her youngest son had popped out to the shop moments earlier to buy cigarettes and sweets.
When he came back he sat down with his mother to watch television.
"Next thing I heard noises in the hallway and shots being fired. The glass in the door shattered and fell in. Gerard threw himself on the floor. I don't know if he hit his head or a bullet hit him."

Dead

Mrs. O'Hara said she could see a gunman kneeling in the hallway firing into the room, and another gunman further along the hall.

She cried out "Don't shoot my son, shoot me instead...he's only a wee boy."

She added "I knew in my heart Gerard was dead. He was lying on the floor with blood coming from his head."
Mr Tughan said "He was, without mercy, executed even as his mother pleaded on his behalf that she might be taken instead of her boy.
"It was a killing which defies understanding and exposes the capacity for cruelty and evil within man which ultimately affects everyone in our community".
