British security guard in Iraq trial pleads self-defence

A British security contractor told an Iraqi court yesterday that he was acting in self-defence when he shot two colleagues, claiming that they had threatened to kill him after a drunken brawl in Baghdad’s Green Zone.

Danny Fitzsimons, 30, said he is innocent of murder in the 2009 shooting. He is the first Westerner to be tried by an Iraqi court since the start of the Iraq war nearly eight years ago.

In an hour of dramatic court testimony, Mr Fitzsimons admitted to a three-judge panel that he shot the two ArmorGroup workers during a quarrel in the Green Zone. He said all three men had been drinking whisky before the fight broke out.

He said he was held at gunpoint by British colleague Paul McGuigan while Australian contractor Darren Hoare pushed him to the ground.

“I was seconds away from my death so I pulled my pistol,” Mr Fitzsimons testified, gesturing with his arms and body to show the judges how the fight occurred. An Iraqi security guard repeatedly poked Mr Fitzsimons to ask him to stop moving his body so wildly.

“I shouted twice (for Mr McGuigan) to put down the weapon,” Mr Fitzsimons said. “He didn’t respond to my commands, my requests, so I made a decision. I shot him twice in the chest.”

Then he acted out the shooting for the judges. “Bang, bang in his chest,” Mr Fitzsimons said.

Mr Fitzsimons said he fired a third shot in Mr McGuigan’s face, and got into a wrestling match with Mr Hoare.

Mr Hoare “was trying to push the pistol to my throat to kill me... and while we were wrestling I fired two shots in the chest,” Mr Fitzsimons said. “I made the decision and pulled the trigger.”

Covered with blood, Mr Fitzsimons fled the scene and was running toward the British Embassy when an Iraqi guard who was at a guard post pointed his Kalashinkov rifle at him and asked him to stop. Mr Fitzsimons shot him in his left thigh.