Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“This Monday I will host my seventh event to mark European Day for Victims of Terrorism at Stormont. The event will take the form of a minute of silence in memory of murdered victims, followed by some victims telling their stories so that we might hear some of the untold accounts of the consequences of terrorism. It is anticipated the event will run for approximately 45 minutes from 11am.
“This year’s speakers will be Seamus McDonald who lost his parents when they were shot by UDA terrorists when Seamus was just 2 and 1/2 , Geraldine Ferguson whose son Patrick Azimkar was one of the two Sappers murdered outside Massereene Barracks by the Real IRA ten years ago this month and Mervyn Lewers who lost a leg in a PIRA under car bomb attack in 1988.
“In addition, this year Stormont will be illuminated in red from sunset to mark European Day for Victims of Terrorism (courtesy of an application from the South East Fermanagh Foundation).
“The press are welcome to attend this event.”
Biographical sketches provided by speakers:
Seamus McDonald
Seamus’s parents Mervyn (aged 26) and Rosaleen (aged 24) McDonald were murdered by UDA/UFF terrorists in Newtownabbey in 1976. Seamus (then aged 2 and 1/2) and his sister (just 4 months) were in a playpen within the house at the point of the double murders.
Over 30 shots reined in on the family home and the McDonalds. The Newtownabbey Branch of the SDLP said the attack was part of “a deliberate murderous campaign” to drive Catholics from Newtownabbey, Whitehouse and Greencastle.
Seamus now lives in Mayo lives in Roscommon.
Geraldine Ferguson
Geraldine is mother of Patrick Azimkar who along with Mark McQuinsey was murdered outside Massereene Barracks, County Antrim on 7th March 2009 by the Real IRA. Geraldine’s family originate from the Republic of Ireland with she being brought up Roman Catholic, she lost her faith mid teens. Following the murder of her son Geraldine reconnected with Christianity and now enjoys a very personal relationship with God. Geraldine’s husband Mehmet (Patrick’s father) is of Turkish Cypriot background. To mark the 10th Anniversary of the murders of the young Sappers the local District Council unveiled a Memorial Bench and a tree was planted recognising the young men’s lives.
Mervyn Lewers
Mervyn is from Londonderry. He survived an under-car booby-trap bomb attack on May 22nd 1988 in which he lost his left leg. Mervyn was an RUC officer. In the years following the attack he moved to Canada but returned to Northern Ireland four years ago. In a recent press Interview Mervyn remarked: “Three decades on I would have liked to see things moved further along but little has changed. Victims are getting older yet they are still being left behind.”