A Dubliner shot in the legs on the South Armagh border is believed to have died when an INLA punishment attack went wrong, an inquest heard today.
Derek Lenihan (27) from Drumheath, Mulhuddart, was shot in both legs after voluntarily driving to a meeting in Dundalk, Co Louth, in December 2001.
He and close friend Patrick Mangan (35) were later found shot, bleeding and bound at a border roadside near Forkhill. Mr Lenihan died later in hospital after doctors failed to stop the bleeding from a severed artery.
The inquest heard that the two men, together with another man, had driven by arrangement from Dublin to the car park of a pub at Dundalk.
Detective Sergeant Gary MacGregor told the inquest in Belfast that a cross-border investigation into the killing had been carried out, but that despite four people having been arrested no one had been charged.
He said: "We believe that the attack was some sort of punishment shooting carried out by the INLA. It may well have revolved around a fall-out in connection with money."
It was reported at the time of the killing that Mr Lenihan was a member of the splinter republican group and that his death was the result of a feud over the proceeds of robberies, some of which had not been handed over to the INLA.
The Detective Sergeant told the inquest that it seemed the men had driven to the Dundalk pub in Mr Lenihan's van by prior arrangement. "It seems they went voluntarily and were then abducted and taken to where they were shot."
He said he had interviewed Patrick Mangan with Garda officers in Dublin and he had been "extremely evasive" about what had happened. "He didn't help us at all on that visit or any other time, " said the detective.
Mr Mangan did not appear at the inquest but a statement from him was read to the hearing.
He said when they arrived at the pub in Dundalk they had met two men with Northern accents and been driven off in a car, being told to put blankets over their heads.
He said he got "very frightened" and they were taken to a house where they were confronted by five or six masked and armed men who held them for half an hour.
Mr Mangan said he and Mr Lenihan were told to lie on the ground. "Our hands were taped and hoods put over our heads. we were put into a car and driven off."
He said they were taken from the car and made to lie on the ground. He heard "two shots and Derek screaming, then I was shot".
The men lay bound and bleeding until a local man found them on the country road and called the emergency services. Mr Mangan insisted in his statement: "I have no idea why Derek and myself were shot".
Coroner David Hunter recorded that Mr Lenihan died as a result of a gunshot wound to the leg which had severed a major artery causing heavy bleeding.
PA