Briton tells how he shot Aussie in Iraq
A BRITISH security contractor facing the death penalty in Iraq for shooting dead Australian Darren Hoare has described how the former RAAF guard lunged for his pistol during a drunken fight, forcing him to fire in self-defence.
A BRITISH security contractor facing the death penalty in Iraq for shooting dead Australian Darren Hoare has described how the former RAAF guard lunged for his pistol during a drunken fight, forcing him to fire in self-defence.
Daniel Fitzsimons's account of the alcohol-fuelled brawl in Baghdad emerged as his family in London prepared last night to issue a public plea for him to be spared.
The former British soldier, 29, is charged with the murders of Hoare, 37, and another security contractor, Paul McGuigan, in their Baghdad quarters last August. Fitzsimons is also charged with the attempted murder of an Iraqi guard.
If convicted, Fitzsimons could be hanged, and his Iraqi lawyer, Tareq Harb, last night urged Australia to intervene to oppose the death penalty.
The new details of the drama that unfolded as the three security men drank, fought and allegedly turned their guns on each other are set out in phone text messages sent by Fitzsimons to a British newspaper from an Iraqi prison.
Fitzsimons claims he was forced to shoot Hoare, of Willowbank, west of Brisbane, after he and McGuigan attacked him. By Fitzsimons's account, all three had been drinking heavily and fighting.
Fitzsimons said he passed out, only to be woken by McGuigan and Hoare standing over him. He said McGuigan shouted that they were there to kill him.
Fitzsimons said McGuigan grabbed his assault rifle and cocked it, so he went for his Glock handgun. "I shot him three times in the chest," Fitzsimons said in his texts to The Guardian.
According to Fitzsimons, Hoare shouted: "You shot him, you shot him . . . dead", and grabbed at the pistol.
Although he could not say exactly what happened next: "I know I fought for control of the pistol with Darren and I know I gained control and he was shot at point blank, I'm sure."
McGuigan's family has rejected Fitzsimons's account.
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