Desmond Healey

Desmond Healey 14 years, 8 Bunbeg Park, Lenadoon, West Belfast, shot on 9 August 1971, in Lenadoon by members of the British Army's Parachute Regiment. 

Desmond Healey was a twin and both he and his brother were eldest in a family with four boys. The family originally came from the lower Falls Road area, where Desmond had attended St Finian's Primary School. He later attended St Peter's Secondary School at Brittons Road, in the Whiterock Road area. 

Friends of Desmond talking years after his death described him as a lad who was always full of life and always out and about. They said he loved to go swimming at the Falls Baths or at the 'coolers' in the Falls Park, but wasn't too keen on other sports. 

Being in his early teens he enjoyed going dancing with his friends. The Saturday night Clonard dance, beside Clonard Monastery, was his favourite venue. He also went to local dances in the Lenadoon estate on Tuesdays and sometimes Friday nights. He was a music lover and his favourite record at the time was 'Coco the king of dancing'. 

On the morning Desmond was shot and killed, nationalist parts of Belfast City and other areas of the north of Ireland were in turmoil. The Unionist government had ordered the introduction of internment during the earlier hours of 9 August 1971, and British troops were carrying out the orders with mass arrests and raids. Throughout Belfast as British troops moved into the nationalists areas of the city people resisted by barricading their streets and roads. Heavy rioting ensued in these areas throughout the day. By nightfall fourteen people were reported killed during the violence in Belfast. Eleven of the victims were shot dead by British troops. There were no British military fatalities. 
Information on the killings carried out by British troops on 'Internment day' were only briefly reported in the Press the following day. The death of Desmond Healey was not mentioned at all, and remained unreported for several days. 

The following statement is an eyewitness account from a woman, a contemporary of Desmond's, who witnessed the events before and after the shooting. 

'It was mid-morning on 9 August 1971, and rioting was taking place in Lenadoon Avenue, at the junction with Falcarragh Drive and Glenveagh Drive. I was standing at the corner of Glenveagh Drive amongst a crowd of by-standers and had a good view of the events taking place. British Army saracen's (armoured personnel carriers) were parked across Lenadoon Avenue at the junction of Falcarragh Drive. A large crowd of people, mostly young boys were throwing stones and bottles at the soldiers who were gathered around the saracens. The riot was on a small scale and petrol bombs were not used. The stoning went on for quite a while and then the soldiers, who were well protected by riot gear, proceeded to advance on the crowd. A single shot rang out and the crowd dispersed, mostly turning and running up the Avenue. A boy who had been about to throw an object (which turned out to be an empty sauce bottle) fell to the ground. 

It was obvious even from a distance that he was very young, and badly injured. A soldier went towards the boy who had fallen. He lifted him up and carried him to the saracen, ignoring the outcry from the crowd. The rest of the soldiers then got into the saracen and it drove away.' 
The saracen headed in the direction of the Stewartstown Road. The eyewitness said at this stage she was not aware who the injured boy was, although she had known Desmond Healey for some time previously. 

The next day a report in one of the local newspapers stated the body of an unidentified youth, aged between 17 and 19 years, had been found at waste ground off the Stewartstown Road. The place where the unidentified youth was found was over a quarter of a mile from the Lenadoon Avenue, Glenveagh Drive junction. A follow-up story on the unidentified youth, accompanied with an identikit picture, appeared in the same newspaper on 11 August. The report maintained the dead youth was aged between 17 and 19years, adding that he was 5'11 in height. It reported the body of the youth was in the Belfast morgue. 

In the Healey home on the evening of 9 August, when Desmond failed to come home, his parents thought he had probably gone to the home of one his aunts in the lower Falls Road area. The Healeys were originally from the lower Falls area and Desmond was always returning to the area to stay with relatives. However confirming their son was with relatives was no easy task given the situation and time. The violence following the introduction of internment continued for days. Public transport had ceased in many areas. Hijacked vehicles blocked roads and streets, and telephones were rarity in most working class homes at the time. All the Healey family could hope was that when things settled their son would contact them.

Obviously they did not think the report in the local press of an unidentified youth in the morgue was their son. After all the description was of a youth near 6 feet tall and between 17 to 19 years of age. It bore no similarity to their son, who was only 14 years and 5'6. The identikit picture also bore no resemblance to their son.

When Desmond still had not returned home after several days, and none of his relatives had seen or heard from him, the Healeys contacted the authorities, giving them a description of their son. On 13 August the Healey family were taken to Belfast morgue and discovered the unidentified youth reported in the Press was their son Desmond. 

The British Army issued no statement concerning the role of their forces in the death of Desmond. 

Relatives for Justice interviewed Desmond's twin brother in recent years. He said the inquest into his brother's death was held in Lisburn some time in 1972, and that it was revealed his brother was shot once in the chest. He said the British Army had admitted the killing. 

But being only 14 years old at the time, and his father having since died, while his mother was ill, he was unable to recall how the British soldiers who killed his brother were able to explain the appalling events surrounding the killing-the shooting of the boy and dumping of his body on waste ground. He did remember the British army accused his brother of having petrol on his clothes. The jury, he said, returned an open verdict. 

There were no reports of the inquest in any of the local newspapers. 

No inquiry was ever held into the killing of Desmond Healey and no British soldiers were ever charged in connection with his death.