The garda near the spot where Pat O'Donnell died was sombre. "Just three guys doing a job," he said. "No one would have expected to be confronted with that level of violence."
He was preserving the scene where Pat O'Donnell, a security guard, had been killed hours earlier, shortly after 4 a.m. yesterday.
Garda Chris McGraw and Garda Robert Carney, both in uniform, had been on patrol in the area when Pat O'Donnell rang the Bridewell station nearby to say that intruders were in the car-park. The station radioed a patrol car. It was at the scene within three minutes.
The gardai left Pat O'Donnell outside while they went in to investigate. As they were walking down the ramp into the car-park a Volkswagen Golf came towards them. It reversed, built up speed and drove forward, hitting Garda McGraw and breaking his arm. It then tore a half-open gate off its hinges. The gate was sent flying to the left and landed on Pat O'Donnell. The car sped off through Smithfield.
Pat O'Donnell was pinned to the ground and is believed to have died at the scene. The spot where he had lain was covered by a sheet of light green material yesterday morning to protect it from the rain pending arrival of the Garda forensic team. A white Nissan car was parked alongside, its bonnet dented where it had been struck by debris.
The gate lay across the other side of Bow Street, where it had been placed when the ambulance crew arrived to remove Pat O'Donnell. Garda lines in Bow Street kept onlookers away.
The garda spoke sotto voce about the dead man. "No one could have expected it," he said. Mr O'Donnell seemed to be safely outside when the gardai went to investigate. He should have been the safest of those there.
Pat O'Donnell was one of two Direct Link security men on overnight duty at the Law Library building. The other security man had been close to the Church Street end and was apparently totally unaware of the drama unfolding on the other side.
