George Nkencho took out knife in first Garda interaction, inquest hears

Seán McCárthaigh

George Nkencho took out a knife and raised it above his head in his first interaction with gardaí, a short time before he was shot dead by armed officers outside his family home in west Dublin five years ago, an inquest has heard.

A local resident, Richard Desay, told a sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court that he witnessed Mr Nkencho waving a large knife in the direction of gardaí after they had approached him in a green area near the Eurospar store in Hartstown on December 30th, 2020.

Mr Nkencho (27) suffered fatal gunshot wounds after a stand-off subsequently developed between him and members of the Garda Armed Support Unit in the front garden of his home at Manorfields Drive, Clonee, Co Dublin, a short time later.

The young man, the eldest of five siblings whose family originally come from Nigeria, was pronounced dead a short time later at Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown.

The deceased’s family claim the level of force used against him was disproportionate.

The opening day of the inquest on Tuesday had heard evidence that Mr Nkencho had carried out an unprovoked assault on a manager at the Eurospar store and threatened staff with a knife at around midday.

Mr Desay gave evidence that he had seen two Garda cars including one unmarked vehicle drive onto the green area at the Cherryfield estate in Hartstown from an upstairs bedroom window of his home.

He said Mr Nkencho had immediately become “jumpy” after the vehicles tried to block his path and began shouting and waving a knife at gardaí in an agitated fashion.

The witness said the deceased seemed to take one or two steps backwards before moving towards gardaí.

Mr Desay, who captured some of the incident on his mobile phone, recalled there was “a significant flash of light” when the blade caught some sunlight.

He also remembered being concerned about the safety of one gardaí who became isolated and potentially trapped by the railings of a nearby school.

According to the witness, gardai then got back in their vehicles and followed after Mr Nkencho.

Mr Desay said two other Garda vehicles including one with members of the Armed Support Unit arrived on the scene shortly afterwards.

He denied the suggestion by another eyewitness that gardaí had “charged” towards Mr Nkencho with their batons.

“That definitely did not happen,” said Mr Desay.

In a written deposition, a young male who was on the green with two friends, Kevin Nolan, said gardaí had “charged” towards the deceased who put his hands in his pocket as if he was looking for .

Mr Nolan said he did not see Mr Nkencho with a knife but heard him question gardaí why they were following him.

A short time later, he heard five of six “bang noises”, although he did not think they were gunshots.

When he got to Manorfields Drive, the witness saw a young male shouting: “They shot my brother.”

Short videos of the green area and outside Mr Nkencho’s home that had been posted on social media by the witness were also shown to the jury.

Another eyewitness, Aideen Hughes, said it looked like Mr Nkencho was ignoring gardai and just continued on his way home after they shouted at him.

She recalled that he did not appear “too fazed.”

Ms Hughes, who was with her mother and 18-month-old daughter, said he then made a gesture which suggested he had a knife.

She outlined how Mr Nkencho had already come to their attention as he had come into the post office attached to the Eurospar store a short time beforehand.

Ms Hughes said they had heard high-pitched, panicked screaming a few minutes earlier and had seen staff intimate that something serious had occurred.

She recalled feeling that Mr Nkencho had been involved in the commotion when he appeared in the post office as he seemed unkempt with dishevelled hair and no face mask.

Ms Hughes said she believed he was “in a state of mental health, shock or drugs.”

The witness, who was pregnant at the time, said she was very relieved to walk out of the post office past Mr Nkencho.

The inquest heard evidence from other witnesses that Mr Nkencho had queued for almost ten minutes in the post office without any incident after he had carried out an unprovoked assault on an assistant manager in the Eurospar store.

Postmistress, Martina Sheils, said a man she was serving left the post office in response to a commotion outside as he said he knew the individual involved in the incident.

She said the customer returned to say he had sorted it out and had told Mr Nkencho he could not be behaving like that in the post office.

The postmistress said other customers were nervous when Mr Nkencho then joined and waited in the queue for the post office for nine minutes before she served him.

Ms Sheils said he was looking for his social welfare payment.

However, she said Mr Nkencho had been given two weeks’ pay on December 21st and told him he was not due his next payment until the following Monday.

The postmistress said he was fine and had no issue when told that his next payment was not due until five days later.

“He just said OK and walked out,” she recalled.

Another witness, Gavin Pritchard, told the inquest that he realised that he knew the individual causing the commotion and approached him saying: “It’s Gav. You know me.”

CCTV footage shown to the coroner and jury recorded Mr Pritchard bringing Mr Nkencho outside the store and appearing to calm him down.

Mr Pritchard said Mr Nkencho seemed to recognise him and stated he just wanted to go to the post office.

He recalled that the deceased seemed to calm down and joined the queue in the post office.

Mr Pritchard admitted that something didn’t seem right with Mr Nkencho.

While he did not believe Mr Nkencho was under the influence of anything, he felt he was “not in the right frame of mind” and “looked lost.”

Mr Pritchard said he had last previously seen Mr Nkencho in 2014 when they were both completing an FAI coaching course where he recalled the deceased as “a quiet lad.”

The Eurospar manager, Niall Kinahan, told the inquest that he was concerned from Mr Nkencho’s body language that he might turn on him or others.

Mr Kinahan gave evidence that he had stood at the entrance to the post office to try and gesture at other customers to leave the queue and to keep others from joining it.

In reply to questions from the coroner, Myra Cullinane, the witness said he had allowed Mr Nkencho to join the queue in the post office because of his demeanour.

Mr Kinahan said the deceased had been “pacing and bouncing around” and making grunting noises outside the store beforehand, while his eyes were “big and bulbous.”

“He was definitely on edge,” he added.

The store manager said he also gestured to Mr Nkencho that it was OK and “to work away.”

Mr Kinahan said he recognised Mr Nkencho as a regular customer and as someone who used to appear “somewhat lifeless or on medication.”

The inquest before a jury of five women and five men will resume on Thursday morning.