Nally debate distorted by racism

JUST before Christmas in 1996, an elderly farmer was awoken in the early hours of the morning. Pat Duggan lived alone in an isolated cottage near Claregalway in Co Galway.

At quarter past four in the morning on December 13, he woke when his two dogs lying at the foot of the bed started barking. When he looked up he saw a man walking into his bedroom.

Immediately, he saw that the man was carrying a knife. Duggan grabbed the shotgun which he kept beside the bed. The man told him to drop it. Duggan could see that behind the man, two other men were ransacking the drawers and cupboards in his kitchen.