On Saturday April 19th 1969 in Derry Northern Ireland, the Royal Ulster Constabulary assaulted Samual Devenny in his own home in front of his children. He subsequently died of a heart attack.
Devenney, 42 years old, and father of six, lived at 69 William Street, between the Strand Road Victoria Police Barracks and the Bogside, Derry's Catholic working class ghetto.
Two days earlier, on Thursday Bernadette Devlin had been elected MP Ulster. On the Saturday itself Derry Civil Rights militants had planned to march from Burntollet bridge, where a Peoples Democracy march had been gruesomely attacked in January, to the centre of the town. The Minister of Home Affairs had banned the march. In the afternoon a small number of the militants, mainly Young Socialists, sat down in the centre of the old town of Derry to protest against the ban. By the late afternoon they had met up with Paisleyites returning from their vigil at Burntollet. There were the usual scuffles. Then the police swung into action and joined the extremist protestants. There were widespread reports of police advancing on the civil rights demonstrators supported by missiles thrown by Paisleyites from behind the police lines.
As the Civil Rights protestors were driven towards the Bogside they picked up the support of the local men, whose memories of police brutalities in January were still fresh. The balance of forces was reversed, the police were overwhelmed and driven back to their barracks. Every window in the Strand Road station was broken.
Then the police brought the heavy equipment into action. Reinforcements, water cannons and armoured cars in turn drove the Bogsiders into retreat. were unprepared, their barricades were smashed and their ghetto occupied and terrorised. (for a full report of the action in Northern Ireland that weekend see The Black Dwarf. April 30, 1969).
The attack on the Devenney household came as a police charge down William Street dispersed the Bogsiders. Sam Devenney was watching the action. As the men. fled down the street they door. of number 69. the RUC found the door shut, broke it down and six of them murderously savaged the inhabitants.
The following is from the graphic interview with Sam Devenney's eldest daughter Ann, which was taped on the Sunday morning twelve hours after the attack. Three leading members of the Civil Rights Association had made their way to Derry and were interviewing Ann Devenney. as they find out the details of what had happened the night before.
The three interviewers are:
Frank Gogarty: Chairman of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association Mike Farrell: Member of Peoples Democracy and on the Executive of the NICRA Bowes Egan: Co-author of Burntollet' "The interview was under way perore the tape recorder began to turn and the transcript starts with Ann being questioned about how the police broke into the house April 17th his head, you know. for midYes. stitched. 20?
know how bad..
you?
Eighteen.
on the fireplace.
kick her in the They was nobody rushed for the open followed. The police crown of his head.
were interviewing others, to know. stairs at all. Bowes Egan: How did they get in? ...they smashed in at the door, and they put my Daddy down on the floor at the side of the settee. and there's a television sitting on the floor in our room-well, the case of a television- -and they put him between that and the settee, and they kicked him and they battered him about, and he has a bald head, and they really were going to town on Frank Gogharty: He's in hospital now, isn't he?
The had six different places in his head BE What other injuries has he got?
He has a broken nose...and he had on glasses, and his arm's broken, and the rest of his mouth's all cut where they broke the teeth in his mouth. (Devenney wore an upper denture plate. . This was broken in two in his mouth by a baton blow and Ann showed the blood covered pieces.) FG And there's your brother, that's Harry, aged That's right. I know his leg's hurt, but I don't FG You're Ann, isn't that right? And what age are FG And what happened to you?
Well, I was going to defend Kathy, she was lying FG And how old is Kathy?
My sister—I think she's 15. And he was going to stomach, and with her not being well beforehand I put my arm in front of her, and he was going to kick her and I put my foot out to kick him, and he held my leg up and kept on banging my toes with a baton. Just kept on—and he held my leg up—I couldn't move. in the room was so badly injured at this time, there could even help me. And there's a man down the street, he's a friend of my Daddy's... FG What's his name?
Freddie Budd. And he was lying on top of two other children, and they hit him here with a baton and here on the head. On the forehead and on the They hurt his hand, I don't know how bad-but he put his arm up to defend himself and they hurt his arn Mike Farrell: He was defending the children. He was. He begged them. You may know how bad it was, he told the police they had him and me and to leave the children alone.
FG Who are these children? How many. That's John and Claire. John's five, Claire's 10. Danny's 12, and Kathy FG They were injured?
They were all in the sitting room. And the younger ones, they were all upstairs-but they weren't touched. My Mummy was in bed and they were up with her. My boy friend was on the stairs and my brother was on the stairs, keeping them out, you Keeping them down from going up the FG How many police actually entered the house? Eight. I would say there was eight in the sitting CAIR room-there must have in the scullery, becau broken too. And it was went to get the fellows away too quick, becau stairs, you see. And th And their language was BE What kind of things Well, for example, they and I asked them not ti after an operation, and know she was a girl th said, that's a girl, pleas said, I don't care the Budd said, just hit us hurt the children. And crying because he knes the children immediate their way to get the you MF And did they get th They did, yes. On the c FG Would you be policemen?
Well, I won't say it fo point in sayingeven I told FG Would you be frigh No. Not after what the cause my Daddy was l over to the corner of i arms down-and my D know, and at least a m bashing and his hair wou really going to town on like that, and they pu and the / nearly cut it know-here where th lay on top of Kathy, a under me, I got up aga this time someone of 1 hair and just left me guard-you know, he away from my Daddy near. And when they'd they kicked him out ar beside the sofa and the all over his head. I th sure he was dead. He ! think he could live. It you should have seen it when they came in the MF What did they My Daddy and my room door because th and they didn't want they could keep them then. I know one they out. They came into people from the street passed all those people children.
LADIE
The Black Dwarf 20th April 1970 Page 9 plate glass as I told you, and they beat on the door