UN UOMO ACCUSATO DELL’OMICIDIO DEL CAPITANO NAIRAC
Un 59enne di Armagh accusato dell’omicidio di Robert Nairac
Kevin Crilly, 59 anni di Armagh, è apparso dinnanzi alla corte di Newry per rispondere dell’accusa di omicidio del Capitano Robert Nairac, sequestrato, interrogato ed assassinato dall’IRA.
Crilly, dopo aver trascorso 30 anni negli USA dove era fuggito, aveva fatto rientro sotto falso nome nella sua città natale di Jonesborough, nella contea di Armagh.
Venne arrestato lo scorso anno con l’accusa di rapimento e detenzione di Naricac, all’epoca ventinovenne. L’uomo negò sempre le accuse, ma ammise di aver accompagnato uno degli assassini sul luogo del delitto.
Durante un’udienza di routine per la concessione della libertà su cauzione, l’accusa ha informato l’imputato che ora potrebbe dover rispondere dell’accusa di omicidio, di cui non era stata data previa comunicazione alla difesa così come di un’eventuale opposizione al rilascio su cauzione.
E’ stata rivelata la presenza di nuovi indizi. L’auto di Crilly venne sequestrata due settimane dopo la scomparsa di Nairac, il cui corpo non è mai stato ritrovato.
Da un esame medico-legale è emersa la presenza di capelli appartenenti al Capitano, all’interno dell’auto.
Il giudice Austin Kennedy, dopo essere venuto a conoscenza di altri due sospetti negli Stati Uniti, ha deciso di concedere la libertà su cauzione.
Crilly ha abbandonato l’aula comprendosi il volto, solo dopo un’ora durante la quale si è attesto che l’accusa decidesse dell’eventuale opposizione a quanto stabilito dal giudice.
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Man charged with Nairac murder (U TV)
A 59-year-old south Armagh man has appeared in court in Newry charged with the murder of Captain Robert Nairac in 1977.
Kevin Crilly, fled to America in the weeks after captain Nairac was executed by an IRA interrogation gang, Newry Magistrates court heard on Wednesday.
He remained there for nearly three decades until he returned to his home town of Jonesborough, Co Armagh, using a different name.
Detectives arrested him last year and charged him with kidnapping and falsely imprisoning the 29-year-old Grenadier Guardsman.
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He denied those charges but admitted in court to driving one of the killers to the murder scene.
At a routine bail hearing at Newry courthouse, prosecutors told Crilly, from Lower Foughill Road, that he would now face a murder charge.
Crilly spoke only to acknowledge that he understood the charges that he was facing.
His defence team objected that the prosecution had given them no prior warning that the murder charge would be put to their client or that they would be objecting to his bail.
District Judge Austin Kennedy, who heard that two further suspects remain in the US, granted him bail.
After an hour delay to establish whether prosecutors would appeal the decision, the accused emerged from court, shielding his face with his jacket, and dived into the back of a waiting car.
Tortured
Captain Nairac, originally from Gloucestershire, was questioned, tortured and then shot dead after being snatched from the car park of the Three Steps Inn at Drumintee outside Jonesborough and driven across the border to an isolated field at Ravensdale, Co Louth.
His remains have never been found amid claims from former IRA members that the body was disposed of at a local meat processing plant to hide the terrible injuries he suffered before death.
In the years after his disappearance, three men were convicted of his murder, but police have always said they were looking for more suspects.
Crilly was interviewed by detectives in the weeks after the incident but flew to the United States before officers could arrest him on suspicion of murder.
On Wednesday, Judge Kennedy was told that the suspect had remained in the US for almost 30 years.
“The only reason he returned to Northern Ireland was because he was in a long-term relationship in America and that relationship had broken down,” PSNI Investigating officer Detective Sergeant Barry Graham said.
The officer told the judge that he could connect Crilly with the murder charge and the two other counts of kidnapping and false imprisonment.
The officer explained that new clues had been discovered.
Mr Graham said Crilly’s car was seized two weeks after the undercover soldier went missing.
A forensic examination found hair matching Capt Nairac’s inside, he added.
Capt Nairac was posthumously awarded the George Cross after reportedly refusing to break under intensive IRA interrogation despite being subjected to brutal torture.
As well as the three men previously convicted of the murder, another was found guilty of manslaughter and two others on charges of kidnap and withholding information.
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