Claim of Garda 'errors' ends hearing

Barr Tribunal: There was no lawful justification for gardaí to fire the shot that fatally injured Mr John Carthy, counsel for the Carthy family told Mr Justice Barr on the final day of the tribunal yesterday.

In his closing submission, the last to be put before the chairman, the family's senior counsel, Mr Patrick Gageby, said gardaí must have been aware that Mr Carthy was no longer a threat before shooting him for a fourth and final time.

Post-mortem evidence showed that Mr Carthy was already falling to the ground when Det Sgt Aidan McCabe fired the fourth shot into his back, Mr Gageby said.

"On the objective evidence there was no lawfully established justification for the fourth shot if it was a considered shot, and if it was not a considered shot it was clearly done in circumstances where it must have been apparent to the shooter that the deceased was no longer a risk to life."

Garda claims that Mr Carthy was not falling, but continued to walk after the third shot entered his back, demonstrated that their evidence was unreliable, Mr Gageby said.

There were "significant errors in nearly every facet of this complex event" he said, particularly the Garda failure to meet Mr Carthy's requests for a solicitor and cigarettes, which the negotiator, Det Insp Jackson, had instead used as "bargaining chips" to pressurise him to end the siege.

Mr Gageby's submission brings to a conclusion more than 200 days of public hearings at the tribunal. The evidence of 169 witnesses, including family and friends of Mr Carthy, gardaí up to assistant commissioner level, medical and legal experts and members of the media has been heard since it began sitting in March 2003.

The tribunal was established to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting of Mr Carthy outside his home in Abbeylara, Co Longford, in April 2000.

Mr Carthy was shot four times from behind, by two members of the Garda Emergency Response Unit (ERU), as he walked in the direction of Abbeylara village carrying a shotgun loaded with a single cartridge.

His death followed a 25-hour armed stand-off with gardaí during which Mr Carthy fired several shots from the window of his house.

Speaking outside the tribunal, Mr Carthy's sister, Marie, said both she and her mother were glad the hearings were completed, but added that it was clear that there were a lot of errors in the garda handling of the siege.

She said she was confident Mr Justice Barr would ensure the truth came out about her brother's death and she did not yet wish to say whether the family would be taking a civil case against the Garda.

The chairman said he hopes to deliver his report to the Oireachtas within six months.