The State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, concluded John Carthy was shot four times from behind by gardai on the roadway outside his house, with the final fatal shot piercing his heart, the inquest into his death has heard.
Giving evidence yesterday at the inquest into Mr Carthy's death at Abbeylara, Co Longford, in April, Dr Harbison said the first three bullets fired would not have killed the 27-year-old.
He said the first two bullets into his left thigh "would probably have been on their own survivable", as they did not enter the bone and did not prevent him from walking. A third into the base of the spine was fired while he was still moving erect. He said this was also survivable but would have caused extensive injuries if he had lived.
Dr Harbison said he believed the final shot, which also entered the lower back, could have entered Mr Carthy as he was "bending or falling forwards" after being hit by the third bullet. The entrance was right of the midline above the first vertebra with a 45-degree trajectory upwards and to the left. The 9 mm bullet exited his upper chest, piercing the lung and heart.
Blood samples showed lithium in the blood at "therapeutic levels", he said. Traces of an antidepressant drug were "a little, but not very" much above treatment level. His blood registered negative for alcohol.
Dr Harbison said he was called at 7 p.m. after the shooting and informed gardai there was no need to examine the body at the scene. He made arrangements for the body to be removed to Mullingar Hospital and travelled there, where the remains arrived at 11 p.m. A local GP, Dr Niall O'Donoghue, gave evidence that he had pronounced Mr Carthy dead at the scene at 6.11 p.m.
In the hospital, X-rays were taken while the body was fully clothed and wrapped in plastic but no bullets were evident. Mr Tom Walsh, a relative, identified the body.
Supt Joe Shelley was present for the post-mortem, as were a number of gardai from the technical bureau, who took swabs from Mr Carthy's hands. Dr Harbison said the shot that killed Mr Carthy was on a right-to-left trajectory, while the others were straight back to front.
Dr Harbison also detailed reentry and re-exit wounds around the knee and the right calf which he described as a "minor puzzle". He said they may have occurred as Mr Carthy broke into a run. However, he said the wounds were larger, indicating they were caused by a disfigured bullet continuing on a downwards trajectory after already hitting Mr Carthy.
Mr Patrick Gageby SC, for the Carthy family, asked if the wounds could indicate a fifth bullet. Dr Harbison said if there was another entry wound it would have been small like the other four, not "irregular". The same ammunition was used in the two weapons fired by gardai, a handgun and an Uzi sub-machine gun.
Describing the results of his internal examination, he said the bullet that exited the chest and had pierced the left ventricle of the heart and the left side of the lung, with both organs showing signs of internal bleeding.
Dr Harbison said he had visited the scene of the shooting where a tent had been erected to cover the area where Mr Carthy's body had fallen. He said the area was 14 paces up the hill from the house.