Robert McCartney murder: ‘An IRA boss wanted me dead – my best mate was killed beside me’
Murder in Belfast: Sisters Seeking Justice tells the story of the murder and the McCartney family’s campaign – revealing that Devine believes they were stabbed because he named IRA leader Gerard “Jock” Davison outside the bar.
“I says ‘who’s Jock Davison? Did he do this to my throat?’ And as soon as I said that name, four or five guys were in front of me, and they started shouting, `you’re getting it, you’re getting it, you’re getting it’.
“I do and have struggled with guilt of slabbering outside the bar, of shouting at Jock Davison, of inflaming an already hostile situation,” he said.
Devine says intimidation and rumours surrounding the murder led to intense stress which impacted his mental health at the time.
“I had loads of death threats and it was a wee bit daunting trying to juggle all this.
“So you’re hearing all this, and then even top republicans were saying to me, ‘you open your mouth about anything’, more or less, ‘you’re in trouble’.”
Davison, who was reported to be one of the most senior IRA figures in Belfast, was killed in a gun attack in Belfast in 2015.
Devine also tells the documentary series about being questioned by the IRA as they conducted a secret investigation parallel to the police inquiry.
He later testified at the 2008 trial of three men who faced charges in connection with the killing. All three were acquitted.
