Majella's father told the Press what he witnessed. He said ‘Majella was coming down the road past a British army checkpoint post at the graveyard. She was coming along with half a dozen other girls and I was watching her coming and one shot rang out. One child fell. I did not know it was mine.' He immediately stopped what he was doing and ran from the schoolyard towards the injured child, and on reaching the scene to his horror found it was his child on the roadway. She had been wounded on the left side of the body. ‘She was just an innocent wee girl going to confession,' he said. ‘If they wanted to shoot anyone they should have shot me. There was only one shot fired. I saw the bullet strike the ground, ricochet and strike my little girl, who fell on the ground. I rushed up the road and saw Majella stagger to her feet, but collapse again.'

‘I could have been shot dead myself' Mr O'Hare continued, ‘for the soldiers adopted a very threatening attitude and demanded to know what the fucking hell I was doing there? Blood was gushing from my daughter's side, but even though there was a qualified nurse in the cemetery at the time, it was a full five minutes before they would allow anyone to attend to Majella and it was another ten minutes before the helicopter that was flying over head landed and took her to hospital.'

The ‘qualified nurse' in the graveyard at the time of the shooting was Miss Alice Campbell. She had been placing flowers on the grave of her fiancé Brian Reavey, whom she was to have married that very day. He had been killed in January 1976, along with two of his brothers in their home by unionist/loyalist paramilitaries.

Miss Campbell said after the shot she heard British soldiers shout at the other girls to get down, that there was someone in the hedge. One of the soldiers ran down the road and another soldier came out of the bushes near where the child lay on the roadway. When eventually Miss Campbell was allowed to treat Majella, she found the child semi-conscious and groaning in pain. Some of soldiers helped her to treat the child and offered bandages while they waited on the helicopter landing, but one of the soldiers, she said, kept repeating to her, ‘This is your fucking Provos for you.'

Miss Campbell also said the soldiers lifting Majella into the military helicopter were less than gentle with her; cutting off her air supply, throwing her on to her wounded side, and leaving her legs ‘dangling out' of the doorway as the helicopter took off.

Mr O'Hare and Miss Campbell both boarded the helicopter on its journey to the hospital. Miss Campbell gave the child mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as helicopter flew over the south Armagh countryside. She said the child was in great pain, and at one point she raised her hand, placing it on her father's chest, lifted her head and said Daddy, Daddy. Seconds later the child died.

The British army Press office issued a statement shortly after the shooting claiming ‘soldiers at a vehicle checkpoint had been fired on by a sniper and a child had been hit.' They said none of soldiers returned fire. However, a further statement issued from the same source several hours later claimed the soldiers had returned fire on a gunman in a hedgerow and the child was caught in the crossfire.

The British army version of events were totally rejected by those who witnessed the shooting, and the scenes immediately afterwards. These witnesses identified the weapon that killed Majella as a heavy-duty general-purpose machine gun.

The Royal Ulster Constabulary also issue a statement several hours after shooting to inform the Press ‘we are carrying out an investigation; we can confirm that the fatal bullet possibly came from a British army weapon. The report that the British army came under fire is still being investigated.'

Several weeks after the shooting the British army Press Office issued a further statement claiming they did not know the reason why the British army had initially denied opening fire. It was also revealed the British soldiers involved in the shooting had left Ireland with their regiment.

During the winter of 1976 the Press reported that an RUC investigation into the shooting of Majella had been concluded and the file sent the Northern Ireland Department of Public Prosecutions. The DPP later decided to charge one of the soldiers involved, a Private Michael Williams, Royal Marine Commando, with Majella's murder. The murder charge was subsequently reduced to the lesser charge of manslaughter by the time the case came up for trial.

The trial of Private Williams for manslaughter began in April 1977. The Crown Prosecution at the trial rejected Williams's claim to have fired on a gunman, countering that no such person appeared in the hedge, and in that instance the firing of the machine gun by the accused was an unlawful act.

Williams pleaded not guilty, maintaining he had aimed at a gunman in a hedge. He told the court he been involved in giving cover to other soldiers mounting a checkpoint when he heard a ‘crack' before he fired. He said that he did not see the children in front of him when he fired. He was adamant he saw a gunman in the hedge. He also claimed there was no way his machine gun could have gone off accidentally. ‘I cocked the weapon and fired it.'

Another soldier, also guarding the soldiers at the checkpoint, supported Williams claimed. He claimed he also saw the man in the hedge ‘in view for just seconds.' He also said he fired towards the hedge, but the man ‘disappeared.'

In his summing up at the end of the trial Judge Gibson, sitting alone, said ‘In view of all the evidence I have come to the conclusion that there probably was a gunman and the accused saw him raise the gun to the firing position and that each of them (soldiers) opened fire simultaneously. The gunman made his escape during the confusion. If this is what happened the accused was entitled to shoot as the only way to prevent further shots being fired at the patrol and apprehending the terrorist I find the charge of recklessness unsubstantiated and I do not accept the suggestion that the accused's weapon was discharged by accident' Judge Gibson also said the opportunity that Williams had for accuracy was minimal. ‘He (Williams) took the risk and Majella O'Hare was killed, but whether it was gross negligence is not to be judged from the outcome but by the chance that some fatality might occur.' Pte. Michael Williams was acquitted.

An inquest into the killing of Majella O'Hare was held in October 1977. Neither Private Williams nor any of the other soldiers involved in the shooting attended. A military representative read out their statements identifying each, bar Williams, by letters of the alphabet.

The hearing was told that two bullets fired from an army machine gun hit Majella. Williams was identified as the soldier who fired the machine gun. In his statement Williams again claimed he fired at a man in a hedge.

An RUC detective said the only ammunition cases found in the vicinity of the shooting came from the soldier's machine gun. An open verdict was returned.

There was no mention at the inquest of the alleged bullet fired by the other soldier as revealed at Williams's trial.

In the 1980s the O'Hare family received £1.500 from the Northern Ireland office in compensation for the loss of their child. Speaking after the hearing Mr O'Hare said ‘No amount of money could compensate for the loss of Majella.'

Mrs O'Hare, Majella's mother, speaking in 1995, revealed her husband never recovered from their loss. She said his personality changed, and he went into depression and anxiety, that led to heavy drinking before his death on 5 December 1992. On their treatment since the daughter's death Mrs O'Hare said ‘There had been no acknowledgement or apology from the military in regard to the great wrong that was done to our family by one of their soldiers. It would be nice, even now.'

No further charges were brought against any other British soldiers in connection with the death of Majella O'Hare.