The family of an innocent man shot dead on his doorstep paid tribute to “a great father, husband and community man”.
Kieran Nugent paid tribute to his father, Edward Nugent, at an inquest into his death more than three years after the fatal shooting.
“He was the best father that anyone could ask for. Here we are today and the scum that done this are walking the streets freely,” he said.
He and his brother, Thomas Nugent, held their mother Ann Nugent's hand as the circumstances of the shooting of Eddie Nugent were heard at Dublin Coroner's Court.
“My father lived for his family, he was deprived of meeting his first grandson and was idolised by his only granddaughter,” said Kieran Nugent. “ He was a kind and loving man who lost his life prematurely in his own home where he should have been safe and secure.
“He was a hard-working man, who did his best to make sure we didn’t go without. He was a real community man, he was known to many through his work, he was loved by all our neighbours and most especially his friends who are also grieving.”
Sick with flu
Eddie Nugent, from Harty Avenue in Walkinstown, Dublin 12, was sick with the flu in the days leading up to his death. His wife, Ann, said they usually visited the pub together on a Sunday. She said February 15th, 2015, the date her husband was shot, was the first time she went without him.
“I never left him on a Sunday ever before,” she said.
Around 9.30pm her phone rang and she “jumped and ran”.
“I thought it was a heart attack. The house looked like a scene from the movies when I got there,” she said.
Her son Thomas and his girlfriend Laura Burke had been at the house when Mr Nugent was shot.
Thomas heard the doorbell ring.
“I heard my dad say ‘Get Down’ twice and then crack, crack, crack. Dad was conscious but he couldn’t breathe. The last thing he said was ‘I’m gone’.”
He performed chest compressions on his father until the ambulance arrived. Mr Nugent was rushed to St James’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Deputy State pathologist Dr Michael Curtis performed an autopsy and gave the cause of death as gunshot wounds to the chest and lumbar spine.
Det Insp Liam Kelly said a full investigation was carried out and a number of arrests made but no prosecutions followed.
“To date nobody has been charged or before the court in relation to this incident. It was not established from the investigation who fired the shots or who the shots were intended for,” he said.
The jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing by person or persons unknown.