image source, Janitta McCabe
Janitta McCabe witnessed her father being shot by the IRA in her family home 33 years ago.
A woman who saw her father shot dead by the IRA has been refused a Trouble Victims Payment despite her mother’s approval.
Peter McCabe was shot dead in his family home in Newry in 1990.
However, the board that oversees the Troubles Permanent Disability Benefit (TPDP) rejected Janitta McCabe’s application, saying the shooting was not a “Troubles-related incident.”
She said she was completely devastated by the decision.
McCabe, who witnessed the attack with his mother, said the impact of that night never left his family.
“The fear and terror that was instilled in us that night will stay with us forever. Those are the scars we have to carry,” she told BBC News NI.
image source, Janitta McCabe
Janitta McCabe says the impact ‘never left’ on her family
Kevin Winters, a lawyer representing the family, said the decision to accept the mother while rejecting McCabe was “contradictory and frankly very strange.”
The Victim Payments Commission, which oversees the scheme, said it could not comment on individual cases but that “all avenues will be considered before the commission makes a decision”.
What is the trouble payment system?
The TPDP scheme was established to compensate people who have become permanently physically or mentally disabled as a result of trouble-related injuries.
Peter McCabe was shot in the leg after a group of masked IRA men broke into his home.
McCabe suffers from PTSD and fibromyalgia, which he said was exacerbated by the stress of what he saw in 1990 when he was 10 years old.
As such, she said, she was deemed to meet the system’s disability criteria.
But the Victim Payments Commission told her she was not eligible because the incident was not Troubles-related.
She appealed this decision, but that too was rejected.
image source, Janitta McCabe
Janitta McCabe’s father (center) was also rejected from the plan, but her mother (left) was accepted.
McCabe’s father, who survived the shooting, was also rejected from the plan, but his mother was accepted.
The Victims Payment Commission has issued guidelines stating that attacks by paramilitary groups do not fall within the definition of Troubles-related incidents.
The law states that members of paramilitary organizations who act as vigilantes against “persons involved in, or perceived to be involved in, ‘anti-social behavior’ or crime” fall within their powers. I decided that it shouldn’t be done.
For these reasons, Ms. McCabe and her father’s application was rejected.
But the McCabe family denies he was shot in a paramilitary attack, saying the bar to prove otherwise is unreasonably high.
McCabe realized she was “in the hands of the board, and the board was saying to me, ‘You’re a victim, but you don’t qualify because you can’t prove why you’re a victim.’ ” he said. ”
In a statement to BBC News NI, the Victims Payments Commission said it was “committed to carrying out the most comprehensive and thorough assessment of applications from victims of the Troubles”.
“While VPB cannot comment on individual cases, we can confirm that all avenues are being considered before a decision is made by the panel,” the statement continued.
KRW Law Winters said the impact of this decision extends beyond this individual case.
Mr Winters disagrees with the board’s decision that paramilitary attacks are not considered Troubles-related.
He added: “It sets a very high bar in terms of the standard of proof that a victim must establish before an incident that caused an injury can be considered a Troubles-related incident.” Ta.
“Mr McCabe said he did not know why he was attacked and that his honesty was used against him.”