A store assistant manager who was attacked by George Nkencho said he was left terrified for his life after a knife was pulled on him, an inquest was told.
Wayne Swords said he had his nose broken in an unprovoked assault by Mr Nkencho on December 30th, 2020, at the Eurospar in the Hartstown Shopping Centre, west Dublin, the inquest into Mr Nkencho’s death heard.
Mr Nkencho (27) from 15 Manorfields Drive, Clonee, was shot dead in the front garden of his family home about half an hour later by members of the Garda Armed Support Unit who followed him home from the shop and repeatedly demanded that he drop his weapon.
The inquest at Dublin Coroner’s Court into Mr Nkencho’s death was first opened on June 21st, 2021, but its formal opening was delayed until this week to allow for investigations by the Garda Ombudsman, Fiosrú (previously GSOC) and by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
In a statement read out to the court as he was not present, Mr Swords recalled that he was on the floor of the Eurospar around midday on December 30th when Mr Nkencho entered the shop and punched him twice in the face.
The first punch broke his nose and knocked him backwards; the second punch was more of a glancing blow.
Mr Swords told the inquest that Mr Nkencho proceeded to pull out what looked like a steak knife with a serrated edge.
“I was terrified. I feared for my life. I never seen such anger in a person’s face before,” he said in his statement.
Mr Swords said he had worked in retail for 30 years and had been held at knifepoint previously. The incident involving Mr Nkencho had left him “very shook”.
A supporter holds a photo of George Nkencho at a vigil in 2020. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire
Eurospar employee Margaret Armstrong said she was working in the off-licence at the time.
She saw Mr Nkencho enter the shop. He was very tall. She lost sight of him, but when he came into view again, he was punching the assistant manager.
He had hit Mr Swords so hard that she could almost feel it. His eyes were “wide and scary-looking”, she recalled.
She later heard him keep saying “f**k you over and over”.
Mr Nkencho’s mother, Blessing Nkencho, said she has suffered from depression and has difficulties sleeping as a result of her son’s death.
“Since George left, my life has never been the same. I see George in my dreams. I can’t walk on the streets without somebody expressing sympathy.”
Her son had never given her trouble when he was growing up, she said. He loved football and coached in Ireland and Scotland. Something changed in him after a car crash he was involved in 2014, she said; he began to talk to himself, he was hallucinating and becoming paranoid.
On the morning he was killed, she recalled that he looked “normal – I always thought he would be fine. I never thought I’d see a day like this”.
She said her son would still be alive if he had received the help he needed.
Another store employee Mark Giles said when he called 999 he described Mr Nkencho as a “crazy head case”.
Another Eurospar employee, Maria Beggs, said she was terrified and feared for her life especially after she saw him take a knife out of his right hand pocket. She had served him before and he had been fine, but this time “his eyes were glazed over”, she said.
“I was in fear of my life. I thought this guy was going to kill someone. All I could think of was my kids. If anything happened to me, they’d be left on their own.”
Opening the inquest, Dublin District coroner Dr Myra Cullinane told the jury of seven women and five men to disregard what they might have read or seen about the case previously.
They should base their verdict on what they hear during the inquest. The purpose of the inquest was not to apportion blame, but to determine the cause of the death, she said.
“There are many things that you know or think you know, but it is important that you give consideration solely to the evidence that you hear here,” she said.
The inquest is expected to last two weeks.