Ex-FBI man says Carthy got even with gardai

A former FBI negotiator has told the tribunal that he believed that Mr John Carthy "got even" with the gardaí by forcing them to shoot him outside his home in Abbeylara, Co Longford, in April 2000.

Mr Carthy had an animosity towards the Garda since his wrongful arrest two years before his death. His ultimate revenge against the Garda was to force them to kill him, making them "look bad" and undermining public confidence in them, Mr Frederick J. Lanceley suggested.

"I think any of the gardaí at the back of the room today would agree that John Carthy got even with the Garda in a very big way."

Mr Lanceley, who was the FBI negotiator at the Waco and Ruby Ridge sieges, said the demands Mr Carthy made during the siege were "not substantive" and were merely a method of exercising "power and control" over the officers. Mr Carthy asked for cigarettes and a solicitor at various times during the 25-hour siege. However, he would not engage in negotiations with gardaí on either subject.

"The delivery of cigarettes and the solicitor were not what he wanted. Something else was going on. He did seem delighted that the gardaí were running errands for him." If the 27-year-old had wanted a solicitor, Mr Lanceley said, he could have got one himself over the phone.

"If I thought people outside were about to kill me, I'd be on the phone [to a solicitor] saying 'get your ass down here'. My question is why he didn't call one himself. If I want something badly I don't rely on my enemies to do it."

After Mr Carthy left the house any possibility of a peaceful resolution had "virtually evaporated", Mr Lanceley said.