A Garda detective told a capital murder trial jury in the Central Criminal Court yesterday how he struggled to save the life of his colleague trapped in an inferno.
Det Garda John Malone of Tallaght Garda station told the court that after a man walked into the station, soaked the reception counter and floor with petrol and lit two flares, the room exploded, trapping his colleague, Sgt Andrew Callanan, inside.
Det Garda Malone tried to reach inside the reception area through a double door but was beaten back by a "burst of heat". In the explosion, Sgt Callanan had fallen against the door past which Det Garda Malone was trying to gain access.
He tried again to push the door that led from the main body of the station to the main reception area. "When I had opened it enough I put my arm in and could feel something on the ground," he said.
"I thought maybe it was tiles curled up in the heat blocking the door. I was hoping it wasn't Sgt Callanan, but it was. His legs were draped across the two doors," he said.
Det Garda Malone "eventually got the right-hand-side door opened and tried to pull Sgt Callanan out by the ankles" but was unable to do so.
Most of Sgt Callanan's uniform was burnt off his body and when another garda at the scene, who had previously trained as a nurse, searched for a pulse she could not find one.
Mr Daniel O'Toole (37), of Crumlin, Dublin, denies murdering Sgt Callanan. Mr O'Toole has pleaded not guilty to capital murder but guilty to manslaughter. If he is found guilty of capital murder he will be given an automatic 40-year prison sentence.
Det Garda Malone told the court that after hearing noises in the reception area of Tallaght Garda station in the early hours of the morning of July 21st 1999 he walked out and saw a man standing there and a sword and leaking petrol canister sitting on the reception counter.
The petrol leaked through a cut on the side of the plastic canister and soaked the counter and floor. The man told him he had two minutes to evacuate the building, Det Garda Malone said.
Identifying the man as the accused, Det Garda Malone said: "He had a red cylindrical object in his hand and broke it in front of me and went to strike it. A bright red flame came from it".
Sgt Callanan came equipped with a fire extinguisher on hearing of the incident. He set the extinguisher on the man, covering him in foam. Det Garda Malone said he then heard an explosion. Another garda, propping the door open with his foot, was blown out of the doorway by the blast and the door beside Sgt Callanan closed.
Det Garda Malone couldn't gain access through the door because of the heat and ran out the back exit of the building and witnessed the accused drive off in a white Ford Sierra, he said. The detective made a note of part of the registration on the car and ran back to the scene. It was then that Det Garda Malone discovered his colleague trapped inside the burning room.
Former employer of the accused, Mr Tibor Bajai, told the court that he became aware Mr O'Toole was having marriage problems and that he had been denied access to his children.
Mr Bajai said that on June 20th 1999, the day before the fire which killed Sgt Callanan, the accused man was granted access to his children and his mood had improved.
Previously, the court heard it was the prosecution's case that Mr O'Toole walked into the Garda station, set the public area alight, walked out and later rang gardai in Harcourt Square and asked after the garda injured in the conflagration.
His mobile telephone number was recorded at Harcourt Square when the telephone call was received and Mr O'Toole was later contacted by gardai in connection with the killing.
He allegedly later told gardai he "committed a terrible act" and that he had wanted to attack "the f . . king system".
The trial continues today.