Family told UVF killed brother. . . 33 years on
Thursday August 10 2006
Henry Cunningham, a Presbyterian from Carndonagh, Co Donegal, was just 16-years-old when UVF gunmen, lying in wait on a flyover bridge on the M2 motorway, opened fire on the van being driven by his brother Herbie on August 9, 1973.
On their way home from work, Henry was seated in the front, having exchanged seats with his brother Robert (21) who wanted to sleep in the back of the van.
In the hail of bullets, he was shot in the leg and the heart and died within minutes.
Just three weeks later the inquest took place and the case was officially closed, leaving the Cunningham family in the dark about who had killed their brother and son and why.
But on Tuesday night, brothers Robert and Herbie met with the Historical Inquiries Branch of the PSNI in Derry and were told that the UVF was involved in the killing.
They have now asked whether there had been collusion between the RUC and loyalists at the time.
And the inquiry team confirmed that the Northern Ireland authorities had never been contacted by the Irish Government about Henry's murder.
"Over all these years no-one ever came forward to tell us anything but we were more shocked to realise that our own Government never asked one question," Robert said yesterday.
"My father was an Irish citizen and a small farmer who paid his taxes," he added. "I am disgusted with the Irish Government. That is no way to deal with Irish citizens."
- Anita Guidera
