Fatal shot was fired from ‘six to seven feet’ away

The shot that killed Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe was fired from six to seven feet from his head, a ballistics expert told the Central Criminal Court.

Det Gda Seamus O’Donnell showed the jury a semi-automatic, Beretta A301, 12-gauge shotgun that he said is similar to the one used to shoot Det Gda Donohoe. He demonstrated how the shotgun is loaded and fired and told the jury that he fired a number of shots at targets from different ranges using the same type of cartridge that was found beside Det Gda Donohoe’s body. By comparing the size of the impact on those targets to the size of the wound to the deceased’s right eye he concluded that Det Gda Donohoe was six to seven feet from the muzzle of the gun when the fatal shot was fired.

Gda O’Donnell told Brendan Grehan SC for the prosecution that he examined a shotgun cartridge found at the scene where Detective Garda Donohoe was shot. It was, he said, a 12-gauge cartridge from a Spanish manufacturer named DB that would usually be used for shooting birds or small animals. The live round would have contained about 250 lead pellets of average size weighing a total of 32 grams, he said.

The witness said 90 pellets were found during the post mortem on Det Gda Donohoe. He weighed a sample of these and found they were consistent with what would be found in the cartridge found at the scene. Following a microscopic examination of the cartridge he formed the opinion that a pump action shotgun or a semi-automatic, such as the Beretta shown to the jury, had been used to discharge it.

Describing in detail the workings of the gun, he said that once the pellets have been discharged and strike a surface they usually make a circular pattern. The further the pellets travel, he said, the wider the circle. He said he measured the diameter of the shot impact pattern to the wound on Det Gda Donohoe’s head to be approximately 60mm. At the Garda Headquarters ballistics firing range he fired a number of shots from different distances at flat targets and measured the circular pattern. At a distance of six to seven feet from the muzzle of the gun to the target, the shot impact pattern measured 60mm in diameter, he said. He concluded: ‘ The range of the shot that shot Det Gda O’Donohue, based on this particular weapon, was between six and seven feet from the muzzle of the gun.’

He said the weapon used to shoot Det Gda Donohoe has never been found so he can’t be ‘as confident’ in his tests.