Murdered IRA chief 'felt something bad' was going to happen
THREE days before his murder Continuity IRA chief Liam Kenny told his daughter he had a "feeling something bad" was going to happen, an inquest has heard.
The 54-year-old was shot multiple times through the door of his home on Shancastle Avenue, Clondalkin, in 2011.
The father-of-five was "officer commanding" in the Dublin Continuity IRA, and his death has been linked to a dissident republican feud.
Dublin Coroner's Court heard he had been out celebrating his birthday on the night he died and returned home at around 2am.
sledgehammer
Two hours later there was a knock on the door and he went downstairs to answer it.
In her deposition, read into the record in her absence, Kenny's daughter Deborah told gardai she also got up when she heard the knocking.
"I opened my bedroom door. As I did I heard noises and I heard somebody saying, 'It's the guards, open up'," she said.
Her father told her to go back into her room, so she went to her bedroom window.
She saw two men at the door. One of the men was holding a sledgehammer and banging on the door with it.
Glass was shattered, and then a number of gunshots rang out in quick succession. Ms Kenny said she saw the two men run out of the front garden towards a car where another man was waiting for them.
She shouted "F***ing w*****s" at them and one of the men stopped and looked up at her, pausing "as if he was going to come back" to the house, but then got into the car. Another witness told gardai the driver had trouble starting the car and it was cutting out for around 20 feet before it got going.
Det Insp Richard McDonnell said the car, which had been stolen, was later found burnt-out two miles away. A firearm was also recovered.
Paramedics who tried to save Kenny found no vital signs.
He was taken to Conn- olly Hospital, Blanchardstown, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
The post-mortem was carried out by State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy, who found that Kenny had been shot five times, with a fatal injury when his aorta was severed.
Kenny's wife Margaret told the inquest her husband had not said he was in fear for his life, and his death had come as a "big shock".
threats
"I have no idea why this happened to Liam.
"I don't know of anybody who would want to do him harm," she said.
Deborah Kenny told gardai that three days before his death, her father told her he had a feeling "something bad" was going to happen and he had not been sleeping well.
DI McDonnell said gardai were not aware of any threats to Kenny's life at the time of his death on June 9.
Despite an extensive investigation involving more than 260 lines of inquiry, no person has been charged with the murder and no file has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The case remains open but is inactive.
The jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing by persons unknown.