The Toronto Star
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.
Defence lawyers hope the testimony of the former British MP will help U.S. jurors understand how the defendants could be lured into the alleged arms deal with undercover federal agents.
McAlskey, who attracted worldwide attention to her cause in the early 1970s, related to the 12-member jury a long list of what she said were human rights abuses committed by the British to maintain control of Northern Ireland.
Among them is an active "shoot to kill" policy, she said.
"It's so obvious to those of us in Northern Ireland that if the British think you are in the IRA, your days are numbered," she said, her voice shaking with emotion. She said a pattern of deliberate fatal shootings had become apparent, including the October death of Desmond Grew, shot dead by soldiers in Northern Ireland.
Lead defendant Kevin McKinley is engaged to be married to Grew's sister, Gabrielle Grew, of Riviera Beach, Fla. She has kept a quiet vigil at the rear of the courtroom throughout trial.
McKinley, Seamus Moley and Joseph McColgan are charged with plotting to buy the arms from undercover agents posing as black-market arms dealers.
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