Ex-soldier who killed man in Lebanon terrified wife by discharging replica pistol in drunken rage

A former Irish soldier who shot and killed a man during a peacekeeping mission to Lebanon in the 1980s terrified his former wife by shooting blank cartridges at her.

Armed gardai had to intervene when Peter Walters - who had drank a large cocktail of whiskey and vodka - threatened Theresa Walters at the home they shared in Raphoe.

Military enthusiast Walters, who left the Defence Forces in 1987 due to mental health issues associated with his experience in Lebanon, has a collection of replica guns that are used for war re-enactments.

On May 17, 2021, at Beechwood Avenue, Raphoe, Walters ‘towered over’ his then wife at the home they shared and fired a series of blank bullets in her direction.

Walters will be sentenced on Friday at Letterkenny Circuit Court by Judge John Aylmer. He pleaded guilty to a charge that he did, during the course of a dispute, produce in a manner likely to unlawfully intimidate another an article capable of inflicting serious injury, namely a decommissioned firearm capable of firing blank bullets.

Three days earlier, Ms Walters was visiting her sick daughter in Drogheda and she was involved in an accident near Aughnacloy, County Tyrone on the way home and had to be taken to Cavan hospital for medical attention.

When she arrived home, Ms Walters took a shower, dressed in her pyjamas and got into bed. When her husband got into bed, he was described as being ‘pissed drunk’. At 4am, he woke and filled a fresh glass of vodka.

The following morning, Ms Walters had her rosary beads out and was praying when Walters came into the bedroom. Ms Walters described ‘a big loud bang’ that was ‘deafening’ and the rosary beads flew out of her hands.

“She thought he was going to kill her,” Detective Garda John O’Sullivan recalled. Ms Walters told detectives: “I thought he wanted me dead."

The frightened woman was unaware that her husband was firing blank bullets and he was shouting to her to get out of the house. He told her: “You’re not my wife. Get the fucking hell out of this house.”

Ms Walters recalled how ‘his eyes were cold, like a cold-blooded killer and he was fixated on what he was doing’.

The woman bravely took to the stand to read a victim impact statement, recalling to Walters ‘that moment when you pushed open the bedroom door, stood like a soldier and pointed the gun to my face’.

“The nightmares still haunt me to this day,” Ms Walters said. “I have been in fear of my life until today. I can now face you and tell you that I will do my best to rebuild my life.”

Ms Walters told her ex-husband that she forgives him and said: “I hope you forgive yourself.”

The court was told that Walters is an ex-soldier and has a keen interest in weapons. The couple had visited Normandy for a D Day Landing re-enactment and Walters purchased the firearm. Counsel for the State, Ms Fiona Crawford BL, said Walters was ‘obsessed with military history’.

Gardai rushed to the scene at Beechwood Avenue around 10.20am. Detective Garda O’Sullivan and two other armed detectives responded initially.

Gardai at the scene in Raphoe in 2021.

Officers noted movement in an upstairs bedroom and Detective Garda O’Sullivan recalled seeing Walters dressed in a blue dressing gown. Walters gestured at gardai ‘putting his hands up as if to ask what’s going on’, he said. Walters came to the front door and had a black M1911 pistol in his hand.

The gun was cocked with the barrel pointed skywards. Detective Garda O’Sullivan shouted three times to Walters to drop the gun before Walters pulled the magazine from the pistol.

Detective Garda O’Sullivan had drawn his firearm and, rather than drop the gun, Walters removed the magazine and threw it back into the house.

“I was extremely concerned that he was trying to confuse me and made me think that his gun was empty,” Detective Garda O’Sullivan said.

Walters was given two further commands before gardai stepped in and arrested him. Detective Garda O’Sullivan said Walters’ face was ‘bloated, red and he appeared intoxicated’.

In a subsequent search of the house, gardai found a stash of weapons, including a Thompson submachine gun, a semi-automatic pistol and ‘other military items’. Three rounds of blank cartridges were located on a desk in a room marked ‘Peter’s computer room’ while blood staining was noted by officers.

In a locked glass display, which was covered by a curtain, gardai found an Uzi machine pistol and other blank cartridges. 

It was confirmed that all of the items found were legally held by Walters.

A ballistics test confirmed that the pistol Walters was holding when gardai arrived was ‘not capable of discharging bulleted ammunition’. Another 9mm calibre pistol located by officers was also ‘not capable of discharging bulleted ammunition’.

When Walters was arrested and taken to Letterkenny Garda Station, he was too intoxicated to be interviewed. In the previous 24 hours, Walters drank six bottles of vodka and whiskey.

Until this incident, the court heard that Walters was off the drink for 12 years.

“He told gardai that he blacked out and doesn’t remember anything,” Mr Peter Nolan BL, barrister for Walters, said.

Detective Garda O’Sullivan said he felt that it was Walters’ belief that gardai were ‘making a bigger deal’ out of the incident

Mr Nolan said his client ‘blacked out’ on the day in question due to the volume of alcohol consumption.

Walters was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of significant trauma from his time in the Defence Forces.

In 1983, Walters was deployed to Lebanon on a US peacekeeping mission. During one nighttime attack by local militia on the Irish base, Walters, through a night vision scope, saw a fighter ready to attack with a machine gun. Walters shot and killed the man.

“He has been significantly traumatised by that,” Mr Nolan said.

Mr Nolan told the court that it is common for war veterans to suffer from such trauma. He said there was a ‘drink culture’ in the army at the time and alcohol took ‘hold’ when he began drinking heavily after leaving the2 army in 1987.

“He never received any treatment for his PTSD,” Mr Nolan said. “From that appalling situation in the Lebanon, where he shot another human being . . . from that day on, it has been like a cancer eating away at him.”

References on Walters’ behalf were given to the court by White Oaks and the Donegal Donkey Sanctuary, where the accused has previously been a volunteer. The reference described him as being ‘a driving force of the sanctuary’.

Mr Nolan said Walters’ guilty plea has saved the court considerable time and cost, noting that 41 statements were made in the case. Walters admitted owning the guns, which he explained were used for ‘re-enactments’ and said he had authority to have the guns.

The Probation Service has deemed Walters as being of a moderate risk of reoffending and not suitable for community service.

Walters took to the witness box to apologise for the incident.

“I apologise to her for the suffering and anxiety,” Walters said. “I am very sorry for it.”

Walters has seven previous convictions, four of which are for road traffic offences.

Mr Nolan asked the court to be as lenient as possible with Walters, adding: “I would ask the court to consider him a man trying to deal with his demons. he has a long history of alcohol abuse, but he has been abstinent now for two years. He has been in White Oaks and has been involved with Alcoholics Anonymous."

Judge Aylmer adjourned the matter until Friday for judgement.