October 4 1974
Two men from Rathcoole who had been beaten up in a UDA hall and taken out and shot in the kneecaps, had to leave the jurisdiction of Northern Ireland for their own safety.
This was stated in the High Court yesterday when Haugh Raymond Savage (17), apprentice fitter, Armoy Gardens, Rathcoole, charged with being involved in the attack on the two men, made an unsuccessful application for bail.
Crown Counsel said the men were attacked by seven others who later shot them in the kneecaps. Savage was not involved in the shooting, but had been accused of taking part in the attack. Counsel said one of the injured men in a statement said that Savage told him before the assault: “You are for the high jump this time”.
Counsel said Savage, along with 32 other men, had been returned for trial in connection with a charge of rioting at Ballymena in May last during the UWC strike. He faced five charges of intimidation and four of disorderly behaviour and causing malicious damage.
As forms of punishments administered in their own areas, paramilitaries regularly kneecapped their victims throughout the Troubles.
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United against Powell
Mr Sean Hollywood, SDLP candidate for South Down, says he is convinced that nowhere has the wind of reconciliation blown so fiercely – and fruitfully – as in that particular constituency.
Addressing election workers in Newcastle, Mr Hollywood said: “The deep freeze of three centuries between the two communities is thawing out. The spirit of live and let live is being given practical expression in place of empty lip service. My Party has fought for and will continue to fight for reconciliation”.
Said Mr Hollywood: “This intervention of the discredited Wolverhampton intellectual meddler [Enoch Powell] has, ironically, hastened reconciliation. People are revolted at the antics of this dangerous politician who can only cause deeper division by his vicious outpourings.
But the people of South Down will not be conned by his words. Ask the farmers of Rathfriland what they thought of his views on agriculture and they will tell you his policies would merely guarantee the further ruin of their industry”, Mr Hollywood added.
