A woman employee from the Falls Road social security office told a Belfast court yesterday how she was showered with glass when one of the bullets which killed the INLA leader, Gino Gallagher, pierced the glass screen between them.
The witness told Mr Justice Kerr that Gallagher had just sat down in her cubicle to sign on and she was looking for his papers when she heard a bang. She looked up and saw a man standing behind him with a small gun outstretched and pointing at his head. "I heard another couple of shots, one of which pierced the screen, and felt the chips of glass flying around me."
Gallagher (32) died almost immediately from three bullet wounds to the head.
In the dock at Belfast Crown Court is Charles Kevin Begley (26), from Dunville Street, Belfast, who denies murdering Gallagher on January 30th, 1996.
A Crown lawyer said it was the prosecution case that Mr Begley was the driver who brought the killer to the scene. "We say he was then involved in removing the killer to a place where he transferred to another car and made his escape."
The trial, which is expected to last several weeks, continues tomorrow.