SECOND OMAGH VICTIM TELLS OF HER HUMILIATION
Second Omagh victim tells of her 'humiliation'
Shake-up of claims process urged after latest complaint
By GEMMA MURRAY
ANOTHER woman injured in the Omagh bombing has told how a humiliating physical examination by lawyers in her compensation claim compounded the pain she still suffers.
Mary Ellis, who lives seven miles outside Omagh, was in the town on the day of the explosion and had been standing beside some of those who were killed. Twenty-nine men, women and children died and hundreds were injured when the Real IRA detonated a car bomb in the Tyrone town on August 15, 1998.
Mrs Ellis was injured in the shoulder and leg and her eardrums were perforated and she had to appear before a group of lawyers in her underwear. She said that one lawyer moved her bra strap for a better look at her shoulder. Two months earlier, she lost her husband which she believes made the situation more traumatic.
In the room was Mrs Ellis' solicitor - a friend of the family who was also the best man at her daughter's wedding which she said made the situation worse.
She said: "I went into this small room and stripped to my pants and bra. I thought it would have been only my daughter and I in the room.
"All of a sudden, I saw this drove of men coining through the door. My solicitor, two barristers and another man and another woman from the other party.
"One of the men pulled my bra over my shoulder down to my arm which I thought was terrible. They could have seen enough without pulling it any further down. I felt so bad that day I didn't want to go back. I then said to my solicitor, Adrian O'Kane, 'I can't take any more, just let them keep the money. I don't want it'." Mrs Ellis said she felt as if the panel blamed her for being in the town that day. "It was as much the way they were going on, as much as to say, 'Why were you there that day?'
"If you had been at home this wouldn't have happened to you? That was the way I was feeling that I had done something wrong and shouldn't have been in Omagh that day at all. That it was my fault.
"They made me feel I was getting this money because I was in Omagh that day. It was very downgrading.
"I was injured with a bomb and now they [lawyers] have put me through this. It's terrible to think about it and I was in an awful state. I was really ill for about three or four days after it."
Because of the experience at the High Court in Belfast, Mrs Ellis - who still suffers pain - said she did not want any compensation but later accepted the first offer made to her.
Her revelations come after another Omagh bombing victim described a similar ordeal.
Rosemary Ingram, 53, had to strip in front of a group of six lawyers after the 500lb car bomb, the single worst attack in Northern Ireland in more than 30 years of the Troubles, left her with scars on her legs and back.
While being assessed for compensation, a panel of six lawyers - three men and three women - asked her to strip to her underwear in front of them to see those wounds for themselves.
Victims have been calling for a change in the procedures used when lawyers decide compensation pay outs.
Victims Minister Des Browne said he would investigate claims by some victims that they were treated "appallingly" by the Northern Ireland Compensation Agency. But he added the way the victims had been treated was the practice at the time.
Deputy First Minister Mark Durkan said the way Mary Ellis had been treated was "degrading and wrong".
Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, who chaired a review of criminal injuries compensation and is a former victims commissioner, said there were lessons to be learned.
"I think if a valid medical practitioner is able to produce convincing evidence that the injuries are of a certain kind, it is difficult to see why less qualified people should question that," Sir Kenneth said.
"Clearly it is particularly sensitive for women to find themselves subjected to this kind of examination."
In response, he Northern Ireland Office said that the greatest possible care was taken in assessing compensation and it recognised that it was a sensitive and painful issue for all concerned.
Shake-up of claims process urged after latest complaint
By GEMMA MURRAY
ANOTHER woman injured in the Omagh bombing has told how a humiliating physical examination by lawyers in her compensation claim compounded the pain she still suffers.
Mary Ellis, who lives seven miles outside Omagh, was in the town on the day of the explosion and had been standing beside some of those who were killed. Twenty-nine men, women and children died and hundreds were injured when the Real IRA detonated a car bomb in the Tyrone town on August 15, 1998.
Mrs Ellis was injured in the shoulder and leg and her eardrums were perforated and she had to appear before a group of lawyers in her underwear. She said that one lawyer moved her bra strap for a better look at her shoulder. Two months earlier, she lost her husband which she believes made the situation more traumatic.
In the room was Mrs Ellis' solicitor - a friend of the family who was also the best man at her daughter's wedding which she said made the situation worse.
She said: "I went into this small room and stripped to my pants and bra. I thought it would have been only my daughter and I in the room.
"All of a sudden, I saw this drove of men coining through the door. My solicitor, two barristers and another man and another woman from the other party.
"One of the men pulled my bra over my shoulder down to my arm which I thought was terrible. They could have seen enough without pulling it any further down. I felt so bad that day I didn't want to go back. I then said to my solicitor, Adrian O'Kane, 'I can't take any more, just let them keep the money. I don't want it'." Mrs Ellis said she felt as if the panel blamed her for being in the town that day. "It was as much the way they were going on, as much as to say, 'Why were you there that day?'
"If you had been at home this wouldn't have happened to you? That was the way I was feeling that I had done something wrong and shouldn't have been in Omagh that day at all. That it was my fault.
"They made me feel I was getting this money because I was in Omagh that day. It was very downgrading.
"I was injured with a bomb and now they [lawyers] have put me through this. It's terrible to think about it and I was in an awful state. I was really ill for about three or four days after it."
Because of the experience at the High Court in Belfast, Mrs Ellis - who still suffers pain - said she did not want any compensation but later accepted the first offer made to her.
Her revelations come after another Omagh bombing victim described a similar ordeal.
Rosemary Ingram, 53, had to strip in front of a group of six lawyers after the 500lb car bomb, the single worst attack in Northern Ireland in more than 30 years of the Troubles, left her with scars on her legs and back.
While being assessed for compensation, a panel of six lawyers - three men and three women - asked her to strip to her underwear in front of them to see those wounds for themselves.
Victims have been calling for a change in the procedures used when lawyers decide compensation pay outs.
Victims Minister Des Browne said he would investigate claims by some victims that they were treated "appallingly" by the Northern Ireland Compensation Agency. But he added the way the victims had been treated was the practice at the time.
Deputy First Minister Mark Durkan said the way Mary Ellis had been treated was "degrading and wrong".
Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, who chaired a review of criminal injuries compensation and is a former victims commissioner, said there were lessons to be learned.
"I think if a valid medical practitioner is able to produce convincing evidence that the injuries are of a certain kind, it is difficult to see why less qualified people should question that," Sir Kenneth said.
"Clearly it is particularly sensitive for women to find themselves subjected to this kind of examination."
In response, he Northern Ireland Office said that the greatest possible care was taken in assessing compensation and it recognised that it was a sensitive and painful issue for all concerned.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/447
Published Date: 28-Aug-02
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