Sinn Fein Councillor's Husband Denies Role in Attempted Murder

Sinn Fein Councillor’s Husband Denies Involvement in Attempted Murder of Postman.

Brenda Mac Anespie (nee Mc Kenna) has been a Sinn Fein member of Monaghan County Council for over a decade. In that time she has been a professional and able representative of the people of County Monaghan. Brenda has been a supporter of the Adam’s leadership and a strong advocate of the peace process. Brenda lives with her Husband, Vincent Mac Anespie and their children in Augnacloy, County Tyrone. Vincent Mac Anespie is a brick layer by trade and has been a life long supporter of Sinn Fein.

However, as is so often the case in Northern Ireland the past has come back to haunt the Mac Anespie family. Vincent Mac Anespie is presently on trial in Belfast for his alleged part in the attempted murder of a local postman in Augnacloy almost 30 years ago. Vincent Mac Anespie stands accused with fellow republican Gerry Mc Geough of attempting to murder local Augnacloy postman Sammy Brush in 1981.

Mac Anespie would have been 18 years old at the time of the attempted murder of Mr Brush. Mac Anespie comes from what would be described by any fair minded person as a decent hard working Catholic family in Augnacloy. Mac Anespie would have been studying as a brick layer in 1981 when the second republican hunger strike was lead by Bobby Sands in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh. There are few in Ireland who were not moved by the plight of young Irish men dying from hunger in Long Kesh, over the removal of their status as political prisoners. Indeed it is fair to say that the mis-handling of the crisis in Long Kesh by then British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher simply created another recruiting sergeant for the IRA, as had interment some years earlier.

The name Mac Anespie will be recognised by some. In 1988 Aidan Mac Anespie, Brother of Vincent Mac Anespie was murdered by a British Soldier at the British Army checkpoint in Augnacloy, County Tyrone. At the time of Aidan’s murder there was public outcry as Aidan was an innocent, hard working lad who was simply on his way to attend a GAA football match. There is no doubt that Aidan Mac Anespie was totally innocent of any wrong doing and was simply murdered because some of his family were known to be staunch republicans. Last year Elish Mac Anespie who was in her late forties died from cancer. Also last year Margo Mac Anespie’s husband Gerry Loughran was left brain damaged after being viciously attacked in Armagh. So this is a family who has had much hardship visited upon them in recent years.

Since the IRA began to engage in the peace process Vincent Mac Anespie like many other republicans has focused on trying to return to some kind of normality. He has focused on building up his property business and generally taking care of his family. This then begs the question, why have the Crown Prosecution Service decided at this juncture to prosecute Mr Mac Anespie. There are thousands of unsolved murders relating to the ‘troubles’ in Northern Ireland, The Republic and England. 47 year old Vincent Mc Anespie, denies possessing guns and ammunition with intent to endanger life and under suspicious circumstances and a further charge of impeding the apprehension of Mr Mc Geough by hiding the weapons.

1981 was a difficult time for many; it was a time when the IRA recruited young Catholics at will thanks to the blinded vision of Prime Minister Thatcher. It was a time when many done things that they would not do in the new political dispensation. Are we now to see a witch hunt against people who through vulnerability or circumstances joined the ranks of the republican movement? This selective prosecution serves nobody well, and will simply drive a new generation into the arms of dissident terrorist organisations.

There is no doubt that Vincent Mac Anespie was and remains a republican, there is no doubt that he was a member of the East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional IRA, there is no doubt that he like many others done things that he today regrets. However, like the moral dilemma that faced Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall, should they prosecute the soldiers who shot down innocent men, women and children as they tried to cross into West Germany, surely these soldiers were simply obeying orders. If prosecutions are to take place after a period of conflict surely those prosecutions should be directed at the real culprits, those who issued the orders and those who created the conditions for conflict, those like Thatcher who sent young men like Mac Anespie in to the ranks of the IRA in their thousands.

At lunch time on the 13th of June 1981 Mr Sammy Brush was going about his daily business delivering post around the small South Tyrone village of Augnacloy. When Mr Brush drove into the yard of a small house just north of Augnacloy he noticed a man step out from a shed that was adjacent to the House to which he was delivering post. The masked gunman turned to Mr Brush and at a distance of some twelve feet the gunman opened fire on Mr Brush. Due to the security situation at that time Mr Brush was wearing body armour under his postal uniform. Mr Brush also worked as a part-time member of the UDR (now dis-banded and renamed Royal Irish Regiment). The UDR was a local regiment of the British Army and was mainly made up of local Protestants.

Mr Brush began to run when the shots were fired at him and he was shot in the chest, shoulder and back. Mr Brush then seen a second gunman at the front door of the house, Mr Brush decided to stand and fight back and he ran to his postal van and drew his legally held .38 Smith and Wesson revolver. Mr Brush in an act of bravery returned fire on the two gunmen. Mr Brush then got into his van and drove off. Mr Brush was treated in hospital for gun shot wounds and collapsed lungs.

Mr Gerry Mc Geough one of the alleged IRA gunmen was later treated in Monaghan General Hospital in the Irish Republic for gun shot wounds. We know this as Mr Mc Geough gave his real name when he entered Monaghan Hospital to be treated for a gunshot wound to his chest. Mr Mc Geough was then transferred to Dublin by helicopter to have surgery. Following surgery in Dublin Mr Mc Geough was transferred back to Monaghan General Hospital and while under guard by members of the Irish Police (An Garda Siochana) Mr Mc Geough escaped from the hospital as he mingled among a group of visitors.

Mr Mc Geough eventually ended up in Sweden and when he submitted sworn documents seeking political asylum he stated that he was indeed one of the gunmen who had shot Mr Brush in 1981. Mr Mc Geough and Mr Mac Anespie were arrested on March 8th 2007. Both men deny the charges. And the trial continues. The question must be asked as to why this trial is taking place at all.