Carthy may have 'wanted to be shot'

Barr Tribunal: There was an "extremely high" possibility that Mr John Carthy was trying to provoke gardaí to shoot him, after he left his house carrying a loaded shotgun, an expert firearms witness has told the Barr tribunal.

Mr Alan Bailey, a consultant on UK police use of firearms, said it was quite appropriate for officers to respond in the way they did and there were a number of factors indicating it could have been his intention to be shot.

Mr Carthy was shot dead by gardaí at Abbeylara, Co Longford, in April 2000 after he left his house armed with a shotgun. The gun had been loaded with two cartridges, but he opened it and discarded one when he left his house. He was walking in the direction of armed and unarmed gardaí carrying his gun at the time he was shot.

Counsel for the gardaí, Mr John Rogers, said Mr Carthy's actions on leaving his house and his behaviour over the 25 hours of the siege in shooting at the gardaí "at the very least" suggested he was indifferent to his fate.

"And perhaps his actions cannot be interpreted in any other way than being designed to provoke the gardaí into shooting at him," Mr Rogers said.

"The possibility of that is extremely high," Mr Bailey said, adding, however, that an assessment of Mr Carthy's state of mind was more within the expertise of other witnesses to the tribunal.

The chairman of the tribunal, Mr Justice Barr, intervened to say that the theory of a provoked shooting was speculative and it was not possible to know what was in Mr Carthy's mind.

"If he wanted to be shot could he have not turned and shot one of the members of the ERU who were directly behind him? They definitely would have shot him then."

Mr Bailey agreed that could have been a method of ensuring he would be shot. It was also a reasonable interpretation that Mr Carthy opened the gun and removed a single round to ensure the gardaí were aware he still had a loaded shotgun.