Gardai deny confronting Carthy

Counsel for the Carthy family at the Barr tribunal has accused two armed local gardaí of attempting to confront Mr John Carthy in the road outside his house, moments before he was shot dead by members of the Garda Emergency Response Unit.

Mr Paul Green, who represents the family of the late Mr Carthy, put it to Garda Eugene Boland that he and a colleague, Det Sgt Aidan Foley, had emerged from the cover of a Garda jeep to "confront" Mr Carthy because they had "lost confidence" in the ability of the ERU.

Garda Foley has denied the accusation.

Mr Carthy had emerged from his house carrying a loaded gun and was walking in the direction of the local village of Abbeylara, Co Longford, when he was shot in the back by members of the ERU on April 20th, 2000, following a 25-hour siege.

Garda Boland told the tribunal that the previous day, before the arrival of the ERU at Abbeylara, his orders were to confront, disarm and arrest Mr Carthy if he emerged from his house.

After the arrival of the ERU, Garda Boland was told he was now in a "back-up" role and the ERU was in charge of the operation.

Garda Boland said he had been taking cover behind the Garda jeep with Sgt Foley when he saw Mr Carthy heading towards him holding his loaded gun.

He was not aware of the "precise position" of the ERU, he said, but had heard them calling to Mr Carthy to "put down the gun".

At this point, Sgt Foley had turned to his colleague and said: "Eugene, we are going to have to do it ourselves," Garda Boland told the tribunal.

"At this stage Mr Carthy was facing me with his firearm and I feared for my own life."

When asked by Mr Green if he agreed that they would have to take action, he said: "The thought had crossed my mind."

Mr Green put it to Garda Boland that he had "lost confidence in their (the ERU) ability to deal with the threat of John Carthy". Garda Boland denied this. Mr Carthy had not been walking in the direction of Abbeylara and not towards Garda Boland, Mr Green said, but Garda Boland and Sgt Foley had chosen to step out in front of the 27-year-old without warning.

"The position was that you, as a non-uniformed, armed officer, and your colleague stepped out from behind the cover of the vehicle to confront John Carthy yourselves."

"I don't agree with that," Garda Boland said.

Counsel for the gardaí, Mr John Rogers, asked Garda Boland if he felt he would have been in a position to disable, rather than kill, Mr Carthy with his Uzi sub-machine gun. Garda Boland said he thought he would have been able to do that.