VICTIM'S FATHER URGES CASH BAN ON TERRORISTS
Victim's father urges cash ban on terrorists
BY MICHAEL McHUGH
newsdesk@newsletter.co.uk
A FATHER who lost his 12-year-old son in the Omagh bomb backed calls yesterday for paramilitaries to be barred from any future Troubles compensation scheme.
Victor Barker said there was a hierarchy of victims and added it was wrong to compare the death of his son James to that of a bomber.
DUP Assembly member Jeffrey Donaldson launched a public consultation yesterday on a private member's bill in the Assembly to narrow the definition of a victim to exclude the killers.
Mr Barker said: "I still think there is a distinct difference between someone engaged in terrorism who puts his own life at risk and a completely innocent party like a child.
"As far as I am concerned there is a hierarchy of victims.
"I don't regard them as victims, I regard them as people who put themselves in a position where they may be subject to being shot, maimed or killed - my son didn't have a choice."
The bill would narrow the definition to exclude perpetrators of terrorism from the definition of victimhood.
It would ensure those responsible don't receive financial benefit from being defined as a victim under the current legislation.
Mr Barker's son died in the 1998 Real IRA blast which killed 29 people plus unborn twins in the Co Tyrone town. He said those engineering violence were not in the same category as his son.
"While there may be alleged victims of the British state and while they allegedly shot people on sight they have often been armed and extremely dangerous people," he said.
BY MICHAEL McHUGH
newsdesk@newsletter.co.uk
A FATHER who lost his 12-year-old son in the Omagh bomb backed calls yesterday for paramilitaries to be barred from any future Troubles compensation scheme.
Victor Barker said there was a hierarchy of victims and added it was wrong to compare the death of his son James to that of a bomber.
DUP Assembly member Jeffrey Donaldson launched a public consultation yesterday on a private member's bill in the Assembly to narrow the definition of a victim to exclude the killers.
Mr Barker said: "I still think there is a distinct difference between someone engaged in terrorism who puts his own life at risk and a completely innocent party like a child.
"As far as I am concerned there is a hierarchy of victims.
"I don't regard them as victims, I regard them as people who put themselves in a position where they may be subject to being shot, maimed or killed - my son didn't have a choice."
The bill would narrow the definition to exclude perpetrators of terrorism from the definition of victimhood.
It would ensure those responsible don't receive financial benefit from being defined as a victim under the current legislation.
Mr Barker's son died in the 1998 Real IRA blast which killed 29 people plus unborn twins in the Co Tyrone town. He said those engineering violence were not in the same category as his son.
"While there may be alleged victims of the British state and while they allegedly shot people on sight they have often been armed and extremely dangerous people," he said.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/804
Published Date: 16-Sep-09
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