Judge refuses to overturn finding man was lawfully killed by gardaí

A woman whose partner was shot dead by a garda during an attempted armed robbery of a cash-in-transit van has lost her High Court bid to overturn a commission of investigation finding of lawful killing.

Gráinne Nic Gibb's partner Ronan MacLochlainn (28), a member of the Real IRA, was shot dead in the May 1st, 1998, incident in Ashford, Co Wicklow. He had been attempting to leave the scene in a hijacked car.

James MacGuill, solicitor for Ms Nic Gibb, said their case was gardaí could have stopped the attempted robbery beforehand and arrested Mr MacLochlainn, but instead “went for the spectacular”.

After Ms Nic Gibb brought proceedings in the European Court of Justice following an inquest in 2010, the commission was set up in 2014. Its sole member was senior counsel Mary Rose Gearty, who heard 60 days of evidence.

In an application under the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004, Ms Nic Gibb asked the High Court to delete the commission’s finding of lawful killing from its May 2016 final report on the basis it was unsafe because of the commission’s alleged failure to address a range of issues and unexplained gaps in the evidence.

Neither Ms Gearty nor the Garda Commissioner, a notice party, were represented.

Having considered the report and submissions of Ms NicGibb, the judge gave a reserved judgment on Friday refusing the application.

Ms Justice Mary Faherty noted that two vans used in the robbery were under surveillance before, and on May 1st, 1998, about 30 members of the Garda National Surveillance Unit (NSU) were at the robbery scene and three officers shot at Mr MacLochlainn. The officer who fired the fatal shot was a member of the NSU. He made a statement at the time, but has since died.

Amendments

She said the commission made various amendments to an earlier draft report after receiving the submissions of Ms Nic Gibb, including accepting it was not possible to resolve the conflict in the evidence on the position of a Green Mazda vehicle hijacked by Mr MacLochlainn at the time a Garda vehicle overtook it.

The commission had on May 13th, 2016, issued its amended final report to Ms NicGibb, advising any application to the High Court concerning it should be made by May 17th, 2016. On May 16th, 2016, Ms Nic Gibb applied to the court.

In her 98-page judgment, Ms Justice Faherty said she was not persuaded, in finding the killing was lawful, that the commission failed to have regard to expert evidence concerning the conduct of the Garda operation, and said the assessment of such evidence was a matter for the commission, not the court.

She concluded there was no procedural frailty requiring the court to direct the commission to amend its final report or take further evidence.