David Jonathan Holden Wiki
David Jonathan Holden Biography
Who was David Jonathan Holden?
David Jonathan Holden, 52, is on trial at Belfast Crown Court charged with the manslaughter of Aidan McAnespie in February 1988. He denies any wrongdoing.
A prosecution attorney told the bench trial, presided over by Judge O’Hara, that Holden’s account that his finger had slipped and that he had accidentally fired the shot “was not credible.”
McAnespie, 23, was killed in Aughnacloy, County Tyrone, moments after passing through a border security checkpoint.
He was on his way to a local Gaelic Athletic Association club when he was shot in the back.
Members of his family attended the court hearing on Monday.
Holden is a former Grenadier Guards from England, but court documents say he now lives in Belfast.
Killed
Aidan McAnespie was 23 years old when he was killed in Aughnacloy, County Tyrone, moments after crossing a border security checkpoint.
Opening the trial, prosecutor Ciaran Murphy QC said: “On Sunday, February 21, 1988, Aidan McAnespie was killed by one of three bullets fired from a General Purpose Machine Gun, also known as a GPMG.”
The weapon was mounted in the army sangar situated at a permanent vehicle checkpoint at Aughnacloy, approximately 1 kilometer on the Northern Ireland side of the border.
‘The defendant fired the weapon which resulted in the death of Mr McAnespie.’
Mr Murphy added: ‘The defendant discharged three rounds from the GPMG while Mr McAnespie was walking along Monaghan Road.
‘One of the bullets ricocheted off the road and struck Mr McAnespie when he was approximately 300 meters from the sangar.
“The explanation given by the defendant at the time for the shot was that his finger had slipped and he had accidentally pulled the trigger.
That explanation is not accepted by the prosecution.
“Although even if that version is accepted as fact, we say that it was nonetheless grossly negligent and hold that the court found that the defendant did not properly take into account whether the gun was in a non-firing state when it was drawn. the trigger.
“Given the level of defendant’s duty of care as a soldier in possession of a deadly and deadly weapon in those circumstances, we say that Mr. McAnespie’s murder was an unlawful act.”
Charged
Murphy said at trial that in the moments before the shooting, a colleague of Holden’s had told him that McAnespie was crossing the border.
He added: ‘That was the trigger for Mr Holden to turn his attention to Mr McAnespie.
“During his interview with the police, the defendant accepted that he took an interest in the decedent, as he had previously been told that he might be a person of interest.
‘A short time later there was a burst of fire from the machine gun while being controlled by the accused.’
The attorney said Holden’s account that he accidentally fired the gun because his hands were wet was unlikely.
He said: ‘Given the defendant’s account that he held the gun in a loose grip and had pulled the trigger, coupled with his admission that it had been some time since he had been cleaning the gun, we say that the account did not is credible and the theoretical possibility of such a sequence occurring is unrealistic.
‘The fact that two of the three shots fell within the yards of Mr McAnespie, someone whom the defendant accepted he was interested in and was concerned was a member of the IRA, supports the inference that the defendant was pointing his gun at the region of the deceased at the moment he pulled the trigger.
The case at Belfast Crown Court is moving forward amid ongoing controversy over the government’s plans to ban future Troubles-related prosecutions.
A small number of protesters gathered outside the courthouse and unfurled banners calling for an end to the Troubles prosecutions.
Conservative MP and former Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer and Northern Ireland Veterans Commissioner Danny Kinahan also attended the trial.
Family
Conservative MP and former Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer and Northern Ireland Veterans Commissioner Danny Kinahan also attended the trial.
But members of Mr McAnespie’s family, supported by Amnesty, said Troubles’ prosecutions should not end.
Speaking outside the court, Amnesty’s Grainne Taggart said: “Today represents the due process that the UK government is trying to shut down for victims.
‘His plans to legislate for an effective amnesty would permanently deny justice to other victims.
“It is imperative that the UK government pay attention to the opposition to those proposals.”
Shot
Mr McAnespie was on his way to a local Gaelic Athletic Association club when he was shot in the back in Aughnacloy, County Tyrone
Official IRA leader McCann, aged 24, was shot dead by soldiers as he tried to evade arrest by a plainclothes police officer in the Markets Area of Belfast in April 1972.
Subsequently, the judge’s ruling in the McCann case caused prosecutors to suspend the prosecution of the only ex-soldier charged in connection with the Bloody Sunday murders in Londonderry in January 1972.
Private F had been charged with the murders of James Wray and William McKinney, but the Northern Ireland Public Prosecutor’s Office dropped the case before it came to trial amid concerns it could collapse over the same kind of admissibility issue.
However, last week the Belfast High Court overturned the PPS move and asked prosecutors to reconsider their decision to stop the case against the veteran skydiver.
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