A Garda fire arms training instructor has told the inquest into the death of George Nkencho that he did not believe the situation, in which Mr Nkencho was shot and fatally injured by a member of the Garda Armed Support Unit outside his home, could have been de-escalated.
Mr Nkencho was armed with a kitchen knife when he was shot and killed outside his family home in Clonee on 30 December 2020.
Sergeant John Heaney told the inquest that Mr Nkencho "wasn't feeling any of the pain or discomfort from any of the non-lethal weapons", after a taser was deployed on two occasions and pepper spray was used.
When shown a video of the incident Sgt Heaney said that the use of a less lethal launcher weapon would not have been the appropriate weapon to use in the circumstances,
Sgt Heaney said it would have been "completely the wrong weapon to bring out" and said that it needed to be remembered that "knife was a lethal weapon."
Earlier, Sgt Heaney, who helped to design and deliver the Garda Armed Support Unit training course, was asked the training of Garda A, who fatally shot Mr Nkencho.
He said that students were assessed throughout the course, from one to 11, and needed to reach an eight by the end of the course to pass.
Sgt Heaney said that Garda A completed the course in 2018, including the tactical element which he oversaw in March.
He said that while Garda A achieved marks of four and five in the early stages of tactical training, he achieved an 8 by the end of the course.
He also commented on some of the observations he made during Garda A's training, that he had "made some mistakes that need to be addressed", but Sgt Heaney told the inquest that there were "no significant mistakes" and nothing that other students would not have also been doing.
Sergeant Heaney said that Garda A had passed the course, and he noted that it had a significant failure rate, and that it was usual that eight or nine participants out of 20 would not progress.
"If there were any concerns at all, he would have failed," he said.
Earlier, Mr Nkencho's family became visibly upset when a video of the incident that led to his death was played at the inquest hearing.
His mother Blessing left the inquest when the footage was played at the request of counsel for An Garda Síochána, Ronan Kennedy SC.
Dublin City Senior Coroner, Myra Cullinane said that she was disappointed that it was not revealed to the family and that they were not warned they would be shown the footage.
Mr Kennedy apologised for requesting that the video be shown without warning and said he accepted full responsibility.
