Safety catch did not slip off Carthy's gun, expert says

Barr Tribunal: John Carthy discarded one of his last two shotgun cartridges because he "knew his gun" and understood that the left-hand barrel was more reliable than the right, a Garda ballistics expert told the tribunal.

Det Sgt Séamus Quinn said that of four shotgun blasts to the inside of Mr Carthy's garden wall, the impact of one was much more concentrated than the others. He believed this to have been fired from the gun's left barrel.

Asked if there was any significance in the fact that Mr Carthy discarded a cartridge from the right barrel as he emerged on to the road on the night he died, Det Sgt Quinn said he believed Mr Carthy was "an experienced gunman and knew the range and effect the left barrel had over the right".

The detective dismissed as "ludicrous" the suggestion that the gun's safety catch could have slipped into the "off" position when it hit the road after Mr Carthy fell.

Using the weapon itself, the garda performed a demonstration for Mr Justice Barr and described the safety catch as "stiff" and requiring about 5lb pressure from his thumb to release. Its location, in a depression between the stock and the barrels, made it doubly unlikely that the catch could be released by impact with the road.

Prompted by counsel for the Garda Commissioner, Det Sgt Quinn also loaded the gun with empty cartridges to demonstrate how it worked. It was about 12 years old and in good condition, he said, although it was hard to open and close because it had not been oiled for three years.

Apart from the two cartridges in the gun when he went out to face gardaí, Mr Carthy had used up all his workable ammunition in the house, the detective said. This included "totally reckless" shooting at and over the garden wall and a shot fired at the telephone receiver as it hung from a wall-mounted cradle.

Det Sgt Quinn agreed with Garda counsel that the latter shot was "a very hostile and violent action towards his own phone".

The tribunal also heard from Mr Seán Farrell, Mr Carthy's second cousin, who attempted to communicate with him by loudhailer during the standoff which preceded the fatal shooting.

A carpenter, Mr Farrell said he had known Mr Carthy from when he was 14 or 15 and used to go shooting with him. "He looked up to me." Mr Carthy was someone who could handle a gun safely, which was important in a shooting companion. "You wouldn't go shooting with someone who was reckless," he said.

Mr Farrell last met his cousin on April 16th, 2000, four days before the fatal night. They met in a pub in Castlepollard, and Mr Carthy looked a little distressed.

Among the things they discussed was Mr Carthy's mother's criticism of his drinking but, Mr Farrell said, his cousin was "by no means a boozer . . . Two or three pints is all he would ever have".

During the standoff he went to the scene and tried to talk to Mr Carthy via a loudhailer, with no success. Neither he nor anyone else there could make out what Mr Carthy said from inside the house, and the attempt was eventually abandoned.

"I thought I would have got through to him, but I couldn't," Mr Farrell said.