Soldiers’ murder trial shown CCTV
A Northern Irish court is shown CCTV footage of the shooting of two British soldiers outside their army barracks in Antrim, during the trial of two men accused of their murder.
Colin Duffy, 43, from County Armagh, and Brian Shivers, 45, of County Londonderry deny murdering soldiers Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey on 7 March 2009.
CCTV images were broadcast inside the courthouse showing the last moments of the soldiers who were shot dead outside the Massereene barracks as they collected a pizza just hours before they were due to fly out to Afghanistan.
The prosecuting counsel, Terence Mooney QC, said that “chillingly” the Real IRA gunmen involved moved forward to shoot the two army sappers “to ensure they were killed”.
Four other people were seriously injured, including the pizza delivery men.
The killings were claimed by the Real IRA. It was one of the worst attacks since the 1998 Good Friday peace deal, which mostly ended three decades of sectarian violence.
Channel 4 News' Carl Dinnen inside court
Relatives of the two soldiers who were in court. Some of them chose to leave before video of the attack was shown. But Mehmet Azimkar’s, Patrick Azimkar's father, stayed in his seat.
The court then watched in absolute silence as the video of the attack was played. It shows the five soldiers in desert camouflage and unarmed, walk out of the front gate of Massareene barracks. They gather round the cars which have come to deliver their pizzas.
Suddenly the video shows the soldiers running and taking cover. Then, from the right of frame, the two gunmen appear wearing dark clothes and balaclavas. Each is holding a rifle and appears to be firing.
They can be seen moving towards where some of the soldiers are on the ground, apparently shooting all the time. Then the green getaway car pulls up and the gunmen escape.
The final bit of the video shows the two pizza delivery cars and the soldiers lying motionless beside them.
Mr Mooney told the jury the shooting was a “surprise and murderous attack carried out by terrorists using automatic assault rifles”.
“The targets were unsuspecting and utterly defenceless soldiers and civilians who were gathered at the entrance gates to the base.
“The nature of the attack and the manner in which it was executed bears the unmistakable stamp of a highly organised and ruthless terrorist attack,” Mr Mooney told the court.
On the night of the killings Mr Mooney said the masked gunmen approached the troops as they discussed their pizza order with two delivery men who had arrived in their own cars.
He said a soldier injured in the attack recounted how he was pushed to the ground by his colleague Patrick Azimkar, who was subsequently murdered.
A defence lawyer suggested the prosecution was leaving open the possibility of one of a number of scenarios around Duffy’s alleged link to the killing, which may affect his defence.
Mr Mooney said that on the basis of the evidence, it was not suggested that Colin Duffy was one of the gunmen.
He said the evidence set the accused in the position of being part of a joint enterprise that led to the killing of the two soldiers.
The case could take up to five weeks.