There was no safe method of calming the situation in which George Nkencho was fatally shot by armed gardaí outside his west Dublin home five years ago, a senior Garda Firearms Training Unit instructor has told an inquest.
Sergeant John Heaney said a firearm was only deployed after tasers and pepper spray proved ineffective, and after Mr Nkencho had aggressively threatened gardaí with a knife, reports Breaking News.
Giving evidence to the inquest, Sgt Heaney said the use of less-lethal weapons had not caused Mr Nkencho “any pain or discomfort.”
“In my opinion, this scenario could not have been de-escalated,” said Sgt Heaney, reports Breaking News.
Mr Nkencho, aged 27, died from gunshot wounds after a member of the Garda Armed Support Unit, identified only as Garda A, fired six shots from a sub-machine gun outside his home on Manorfields Drive, Clonee, Co Dublin, on December 30th 2020.
Shortly beforehand, the deceased had carried out an unprovoked attack on a manager at a nearby Eurospar store in Hartstown and had also threatened staff with a knife, reports Breaking News.
The family of Mr Nkencho maintain that the force used against him was excessive.
However, the Director of Public Prosecutions decided no prosecution should follow the circumstances of Mr Nkencho’s death after an investigation by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, now known as Fiosrú, reports Breaking News.
The tenth day of the inquest at Dublin District Coroner’s Court heard that Sgt Heaney was responsible for designing and delivering the pre-deployment training programme for ASU members.
He explained that ASU trainees were required to achieve a minimum score of 8 on a scale of 1 to 11, reports Breaking News.
Sgt Heaney said Garda A had received a score of 4 at the beginning of the course, which he described as “normal enough,” as candidates were expected to improve as training progressed.
He confirmed that Garda A achieved a score of 8 in all areas by the end of the programme and said there were no significant concerns about his performance, reports Breaking News.
“If there had been any concerns at all, he would have been failed,” he added, reports Breaking News.
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In response to questions from coroner Myra Cullinane, Sgt Heaney said the ASU training programme had a high failure rate, with between eight and nine candidates out of every 20 typically failing.
He said fully qualified ASU members were also required to undertake ongoing refresher training, with firearms training twice a year and judgment-based scenarios once annually, reports Breaking News.
Sgt Heaney outlined that ASU members receive instruction across several modules, including firearms, less-lethal weapons, tactical responses and crisis situations.
He told counsel for the Nkencho family, Eanna Molloy SC, that training scenarios included situations involving individuals with mental health difficulties, though these were more commonly linked to “self-harmers,” reports Breaking News.
Sgt Heaney said the purpose of such scenarios was to contain situations safely.
He noted that mental health issues cover “a wide spectrum” and that it was not possible to design training scenarios to address every possible circumstance, reports Breaking News.
He said ASU candidates were required to face eight solo scenarios inside a house during training, one of which related to mental health.
Answering questions from counsel for An Garda Síochána, Ronan Kennedy SC, Sgt Heaney said ASU candidates had to justify any use of force, reports Breaking News.
While lethal force was intended to be a last resort, Sgt Heaney said it could be justified “straight away” if an officer was confronted with an immediate threat to their life.
After viewing footage taken by a passer-by of the fatal incident, which captured the sound of five of the six shots fired by Garda A, Sgt Heaney said there would be a delay between a shot being fired and when it was audible on the recording, reports Breaking News.
He said the circumstances would not have been appropriate for the use of a less-lethal 40mm launcher, one of the weapons available to ASU members, describing it as “completely the wrong weapon to bring out,” reports Breaking News.
The witness said tasers can struggle to penetrate heavy clothing but noted that this issue would be resolved with newer models, which he said would “go through jackets,” reports Breaking News.
Sgt Heaney also pointed out that knives are lethal weapons and are responsible for more deaths than firearms.
He said a person armed with a knife could seriously injure or kill three or four people very quickly, reports Breaking News.
The inquest, before a jury of five women and four men, is continuing this afternoon.
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