Son of John Gilligan's bodyguard watched on CCTV as father shot in garden, inquest hears
The son of a man shot dead in his garden saw the gunman shooting on CCTV an inquest has heard.
Lee Moran was upstairs in his father’s house when he saw a gunman open fire on his father, Stephen ‘Dougie’ Moran at Earlsfort View, Lucan, Co Dublin.
Stephen 'Dougie' Moran was widely known in gangland circles as John Gilligan's bodyguard.
The gunman entered the front garden and fired six to seven shots on March 15 2014. Mr Moran was struck as he got out of his jeep.
“When I looked at the cameras I saw a person shooting,” Lee Moran said in his deposition.
He called out to his mother, “Quick Ma, dad’s after being shot.”
“We both ran to the garden together. I was screaming his name. I screamed at Lee to call an ambulance, I could see blood seeping through his shirt,” Mr Moran's wife Natasha Moran said.
Dublin Coroner's Court heard that Mr Moran was ‘very security conscious’ with CCTV cameras around the house. Natasha Moran told the inquest into her husband’s death that he never discussed threats against his life with her.
Lee Moran said his father had been over to the UK to see family in recent weeks and had spoken of personal matters.
“He seemed to know something was going to happen in the last two weeks,” Lee Moran said.
Mr Moran was rushed from the scene to Tallaght Hospital by ambulance where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
He’d sustained three gunshot wounds, two to the chest and one to the leg. There were two bullet exit wounds. Mr Moran suffered a collapsed lung due to the injuries.
An autopsy performed by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster gave the cause of death as hemorrhage and shock due to gunshot wounds.
Inspector Mark O’Neill said an incident room was set up in Lucan following the shooting, with detectives from Ronanstown and Lucan investigating the killing. They followed up 277 lines of inquiry and took 137 statements. No criminal proceedings were instituted in the wake of the fatal shooting and none are contemplated, the inquest heard.
“It remains an active investigation,” Insp O’Neill told Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane.
The jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing by person or persons unknown.
