A MAN WHO was on temporary release from a Dublin prison for the day was gunned down four minutes after he had left the premises by a gunman who was lying in wait for him, an inquest has heard.
Mark Byrne (29), Kilcarrig Green, Tallaght, Dublin, was shot twice at the corner of Berkeley Road and St Vincent's Street North, Dublin city, just minutes after leaving Mountjoy Prison on the morning of May 5th, 2005, where he was serving a sentence.
The inquest into Mr Byrne's death at Dublin City Coroner's Court yesterday heard that the "planned and targeted shooting" was carried out on a busy thoroughfare and could have easily led to other people being injured.
There were more than 100 witnesses including construction site workers and people going about their daily business, as well as staff from the Mater hospital, Det Garda Michael Smith said.
Mr Byrne had just left a shop at the corner of Sarsfield Road and Berkeley Road, Dublin, at 9.46am, when he was shot at three times by a gunman from behind. He had left the prison at 9.42am.
"The gunman ran up behind him, raised a dark handgun in both of his hands and shot the victim twice," said witness Patrick O'Donoghue in a statement read out in court. "He then stood back on the footpath, closer to the victim and shot him again.
"I saw the man fire a shot into his back. The gunman then raised his arm and shot him in the head," said another witness Éamon Delaney, also in a statement read out in court. (Both witnesses have since died.)
The gunman fled the scene in a black Ford Focus, driven by someone else. There may have been others in the car.
Mr Byrne sustained two gunshot wounds, one through his chest and the other to the right side of his head, both of which were lethal in their own right, a postmortem by the deputy state pathologist Dr Michael Curtis indicated. The third bullet missed him.
Doctors from the nearby Mater hospital attended to the victim but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Det Garda Smith said it was a "target shooting" with "prior information". Hundreds of statements were taken and hundreds of different lines of inquiry followed.
A file was sent to the DPP who said there was insufficient evidence to direct a prosecution. The Garda investigation into Mr Byrne's death is still active, the court heard.
The coroner called on anyone with further information to come forward. "This was a particularly cruel, planned and targeted shooting and the manner in which it was carried out was particularly cruel."
The jury returned a verdict of death by unlawful killing by a person or persons unknown.