An inquest into the fatal shooting of George Nkencho by members of the Garda Armed Support Unit (ASU) will see up to 60 witnesses giving evidence, Dublin District Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane has said.
Mr Nkencho (27) was shot several times by members of the ASU outside his family home in Clonee, Co Dublin, after he appeared to lunge at gardaí with a knife, in the aftermath of an alleged assault by him at a nearby shop on December 30th, 2020.
At a sitting on Monday, Dr Cullinane said she had earlier hoped to hear the witnesses’ evidence in the inquest over a period of a little more than two weeks this November. She revised this timeline, however, to “early in the new year”.
Ms Cullinane has previously said two members of the unit directly involved in Mr Nkencho’s death would be given anonymity during the inquest in the interest of their security and “national security”.
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She gave her revised timeline for hearing the testimonies after a discussion with counsel for An Garda Síochána, Ronan Kennedy SC, Aoife Mutch BL for Fiosrú (formerly the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission) and Seoirse Fennessy BL for Mr Nkencho’s family.
She said a number of issues needed to be addressed before the witness testimony. These included the sharing of a Fiosrú report, issues around pixilating video footage of events surrounding the shooting to protect the identity of those granted anonymity, and documents relating to instructions and training to gardaí.
She said the scope of the inquest would also need to be addressed.
Mr Kennedy said gardaí had reviewed 252 witness statements but were still in the process of reviewing other material received on June 24th, including the Fiosrú report. He said a “body of work” remained, over which he would have to consult his client.
Mr Kennedy asked if, given the amount of work yet to be undertaken, it was realistic to schedule the witness hearings in November.
Dr Cullinane said she would hold a hearing on September 12th. She expressed her hope that An Garda Síochána will have completed its review of documentation by this date, allowing the documentation to be shared with all parties. She said she would correspond with the parties to see if they could share their view on the scope of the inquiry.
She said she had wanted to hold the inquest this year, but did not wish to raise expectations among Mr Nkencho’s family about the start of the inquest and then disappoint them. “We won’t aim for something that’s not possible,” said Ms Cullinane.
Directly addressing members of Mr Nkencho’s family including his mother Blessing, Dr Cullinane said it was not unusual for dates “to shift a little.”
