A jury expressed concerns today after a father-of-10 was shot dead months after he contacted the Garda Complaints Board alleging officers had failed to act over threatening phone-calls.
Gerard Fitzgerald was discovered in a pool of blood after being shot in the head at close range at the junction of Oldtown Road and Shanliss Road, in Santry, north Dublin on November 21st, 2001.
Four months before his death, the 49-year-old made a seven-page statement to the Garda Siochana Complaints Board accusing members of not responding to concerns over phone-calls to the family home threatening to blow his head off.
The inquest heard at the time of his death his complaint had not been dealt with.
The jury, which returned a verdict of unlawful killing by person or persons unknown, requested Dublin City Coroner Dr Brian Farrell to write to the relevant authorities expressing their concerns over the length of time it takes for a complaint to the board to be processed.
Michael Finucane, the family's solicitor, said: "The reason why the family have been so fervent in their desire for the full explanation of all the circumstances is because they truly feel their relation's life was under threat for considerable period of time before he was killed."
He added: "They feel they tried to use the official channels and that the channels ignored them."
However, barrister for An Garda Siochana, Stephen Byrne, said: "There hasn't been any evidence that gardai did anything they shouldn't have done on the back of their complaints."
The inquest heard there was a long-running feud going on between extended members of the family and a number of other people.
The fatal attack in November 2001 was the second time Mr Fitzgerald suffered gunshot wounds — on November 6th, 2000, he was shot several times outside his home at Rathvilly Park in Finglas.
The first gun attack took place just over a week before the shooting dead of his nephew, Francis Fitzgerald, on November 16th, 2000.
Supt Michael Roche said there was a full and proper investigation into the non-fatal shooting but Mr Fitzgerald had not co-operated with officers.
The inquest heard trouble with extended members of the family began in 2000.
The inquest heard how family and friends of the deceased made 20 allegations of assault, injury and criminal damage against the second family to gardai between August 2000 and January 2002. These were met with several counter complaints.
In July 2001, Mr Fitzgerald complained to the Garda Siochana Complaints Board stating a gang of people had come to their home armed with weapons, broken windows and terrorised the children. He said he believed if gardai did not act a life would be lost.
Supt Roche, now retired, from Blanchardstown Station, told the inquest there was a high level of policing in the area of Finglas where the family were living and they were satisfied it was adequate.
David Fitzgerald, his son, said he lost count of the number of complaints the family made to gardai.
"Any time my mother or brother or sister went down to make a complaint they would fob them off," he said. "We just felt the police had a dislike for our father."
The inquest heard a man in a balaclava got out of a silver Rover car and shot Mr Fitzgerald as he walked down Shanliss Road on November 21, 2001. He was shot in the legs disabling him, before a gun was placed just inches from his head and the fatal shot fired.
"This was an extremely cruel shooting, a violent and cruel shooting, Mr Fitzgerald was disabled and then shot in the head," Dr Farrell said.
"We should call on anybody who has any other evidence in relation to the shooting of Gerard Fitzgerald to come forward and assist gardai even at this late stage."
CCTV footage showed the stolen car, which was later found burnt-out, circling the area before he was shot. The car was stolen in Northern Ireland and another registration plate placed on it. The jury also recommended the relevant authorities should look at the monitoring process for licence plates.