Dramatic CCTV footage of the two raiders being shot during a foiled post office robbery in Lusk, Co Dublin, was viewed by a jury at an inquest into their deaths yesterday.
The CCTV footage, from a camera operated by Lusk Post Office, was presented at the joint inquest into the deaths of Eric Hopkins and Colm Griffin, at Dublin City Coroner's Court, and showed the arrival of three raiders wearing black masks at the post office and attempting to carry out a robbery.
Colm Griffin (33) of Canon Lillis Avenue, Dublin, and Eric Hopkins (24) of Lower Rutland Street, Dublin, were shot dead as they tried to rob a post office at The Village Store, Lusk, on the morning of May 26th, 2005.
Stills shown in court revealed the entrance of two raiders, one brandishing a sledgehammer who repeatedly hits the front of the post office with the hammer throughout the footage of one minute, 19 seconds.
Other stills viewed by the jury showed another raider, Colm Griffin, pointing a gun towards the door of the post office and later in a slumped position on the floor, apparently having been shot.
Hopkins is seen bending down towards Griffin and then moving away from him.
State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy, who viewed and analysed some of the CCTV footage, told the inquest that Hopkins was shot within two seconds of Griffin, before he continued into the shop from the post office area.
The footage also revealed a garda pointing a gun, apparently at Hopkins.
Dr Cassidy, who carried out postmortems on both men, told the court that Griffin, who was shot first, died as a result of gunshot injuries to the head and trunk and Hopkins died from a single gunshot wound to his trunk, which caused fatal injuries to his lung and heart.
She said that Griffin was most likely first shot in the body, an injury she described as "not life-threatening".
"The gunshot wound to the head was a fatal injury which would cause almost instant death.
"That's the second injury, I believe, he was upright when he was first shot." Dr Cassidy told the inquest that the shots were fired in rapid succession with no significant gap.
In Hopkins's instance, the bullet penetrated his lungs and damaged his heart and death was due to bleeding from his lungs and heart as well as damage to his heart.
The court heard that neither of the men displayed any vital signs when the emergency services came on the scene.
The inquest continues today.
A third man, Gavin Farrelly of Sheriff Street, Dublin, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in April after pleading guilty to armed robbery and allowing himself to be carried in a stolen vehicle.