An inquest jury has ruled that a member of the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) who shot dead an unarmed man during a botched post office robbery believed the raider was armed.
The jury returned narrative verdicts in the cases of Eric Hopkins and Colm Griffin, both of whom were shot dead by an ERU member during the attempted robbery in 2005.
In the case of Hopkins, the narrative verdict noted that while it later transpired he was unarmed, the garda who fired the fatal shot believed Hopkins was armed.
In the case of Griffin, who was armed with a handgun, the jury's narrative verdict found he had taken a firing position when he was fatally shot, despite repeated warnings that armed gardaí were at the scene.
When charging the jury, coroner Dr Brian Farrell instructed them to return a narrative verdict, which simply outlines the facts of a death without apportioning blame. He informed jury members they were entitled to add any recommendation that they believed may prevent another death taking place in similar circumstances.
However, the jury made no such recommendations.
Outside Dublin City Coroner's Court, Anne Grimes, Griffin's mother-in-law, said she was not satisfied with gardaí.
"They knew they were going to do the [ robbery], they should have stopped them. They [ the gardaí] put the people in the post office at risk."
Dr Farrell on Monday refused a request by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission to have the inquest adjourned.
The commission made its application after receiving a complaint about "inappropriate lethal force" used by gardaí against Hopkins.
Dr Farrell said nothing that would prejudice any civil or criminal proceedings that had arisen over the course of the inquest.
Yesterday he said he hoped the new Coroner's Act would address the legal issues that had arisen during the inquest. He extended his sympathies to the families of the dead men and to the gardaí involved. Shane Murphy SC extended his condolences to the dead men's families on behalf of the Garda.
Griffin (33), Canon Lillis Avenue, and Hopkins (24), Lower Rutland Street, both Dublin 1, were shot dead by the ERU as they tried to steal €48,500 on the morning of May 26th, 2005, from the Village Stores post office and shop in Lusk, north Co Dublin.
A third man, Gavin Farrelly (35), Lower Sheriff Street, Dublin, surrendered. He was sentenced last May to 10 years in jail.
A Garda operation was put in place in Lusk after intelligence suggested a raid was to take place there on the morning in question.
Two armed members of the ERU dressed as construction workers and took up positions in the shop area of the post office.
One of them, known only as Det Garda A, gave evidence to the inquest from behind a curtain to protect his anonymity.
