Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams is facing calls to apologise to the family of a man who was shot three times in an IRA punishment attack . Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams is facing calls to apologise to the family of a man who bled to death after being shot three times in an IRA punishment attack . Andrew Kearney , 33 , was abducted from his West Belfast flat and shot by masked raiders in July 1998 weeks after allegedly punching a senior IRA member during a bar brawl . His sister Eleanor King said Mr Adams privately apologised for the killing of the father-of-one but has refused to do so publicly . Speaking as part of an RTÉ documentary about paramilitary 'punishment attacks ' , she said : 'He should have come forward and told the IRA what to do . 'As in to come forward and admit it publicly . And , yes , give a public apology . 'And in my opinion , if he had done that , even if he did n't call for anybody to be arrested or anything , but just even the public apology and the public acceptance , it would have caused the family a lot less heartache over the years . ' King said her family had been republicans their whole lives and that her mother Maureen welcomed Gerry Adams 'with open arms ' after her son had been killed . 'The first thing he told us was that he was extending an apology from the top of the republican movement , ' she said . Sinn Féin MLA Alex Maskey told the programme that Adams acknowledges meeting the family but is unaware of what was said . The documentary also features Thomas Marley , whose son Gerard took his own life in 1997 after he was the victim of two punishment attacks . Mr Marley said : ' ( The IRA ) kept on doing it , killing people with their shotguns blowing legs off , using bars . They thought it was fun , it was the right thing . But it was n't . ' Punishment attacks by paramilitaries were common during The Troubles and were often supported by local communities . They increased after the 1994 ceasefires . They began in majority republican communities but loyalist paramilitaries soon began carrying out their own punishment attacks . In 1998 , Andrew Peden was packing up his car for a trip to the seaside with his young family when he was abducted by the Ulster Volunteer Force . Andrew Kearney , 33 , ( right ) was shot three times in an IRA punishment attack and his sister Eleanor King ( left ) is now calling for an apology from Mr Adams . They beat him for 12 hours before shooting him in both legs with a shotgun . He spent several months in hospital . Both of his legs were amputated above the knee . The attack happened just three weeks after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement and its promise of a bright future for the people of Northern Ireland . During the Troubles , most of the attacks took place in North and West Belfast . What began in republican areas was copied by loyalists who went on to carry out more punishment beatings and shootings than republicans . Former UVF prisoner Tom Winstone , director of a restorative justice programme on Belfast 's Shankill Road , told the documentary : 'It might just surprise you how much mistrust there was in loyalist communities towards the police . 'When you are talking about punishment violence , I think everyone understands and knows that it 's wrong but unfortunately a lot of people did n't bat an eyelid about that . ' Above The Law , a Below The Radar TV production in association with the RTE Investigation Unit , will be broadcast tomorrow on RTE ONE at 9.35pm . Mr Kearney 's mother Maureen ( left ) met with politicians and journalists to plead with all sides involved in last-ditch negotiations in Northern Ireland to do all they could to save the peace process .
Andrew Kearney , 33 , was beaten and bled to death in lethal heart attack . His sister Eleanor King has called for a public apology from Gerry Adams . She was interviewed as part of a documentary about paramilitary violence . Programme also features man whose wife took his own life after the attack .