The family of George Nkencho were subjected to threats and racist abuse in the days immediately after he was shot dead outside their home.

Mr Nkencho was armed with a kitchen knife when armed gardaí opened fire on him in his front garden on December 30th.

Gardaí had been called to an alleged assault on a shop worker in a nearby supermarket and had followed Mr Nkencho home through his housing estate.

Within hours of his death, claims Mr Nkencho had a violent criminal past were being widely circulated online; however, it quickly emerged that he had never been convicted of any crime.

People at a candlelit vigil in Dublin for George Nkencho, 01-01-2021. Image: Niall Carson/PA Wire/PA Images

On The Pat Kenny Show this morning, his sister Gloria Nkencho said the racist abuse the family received in the days after her brother’s death was “disgraceful.”

“We got messages, comments, we even got a letter sent with threats and people just being horrific to myself and my family,” she said.

“When the truth started to come out, we then started to receive support and sympathy and condolences but the direct aftermath, right after this, after seeing my brother killed, it was threats.

“It was ‘he deserved it; it was good what happened, it was justified, go back to your country you don’t belong here.’

“All of those things, directly after this. But like I said, when the truth came out, we started receiving support and condolences which was great to see as well.”

A candlelight vigil in honour of George Nkencho outside Blanchardstown garda station, 13-01-2021. Image: Sam Boal/RollingNews

She said the scary thing about the experience was how quickly people picked up the false rumours about her brother and ran with them.

“Absolutely none of it was true,” she said. “My brother was not a criminal. He had no convictions. He didn’t attack anybody with a knife. That picture that was shared was apparently a picture in England from a football fight or something like that.

“It is just the fact that people were so quick to believe that. This news spread like wildfire and everybody believed it.

“Everybody was like, ‘yes, he did this; he did that’ and it just came from a small minority who wanted to use this as an opportunity to create divide – and it was picked up and it was believed.

“That is what was scary to me. It was like how can this be believed so quickly? How can this be accepted as fact? At least until the headlines came and they said he had no prior convictions.

“Even at that, certain people still believed that that picture is real. That is what they believe but it is fake.”

Gardaí at the scene in Manorfields Drive, Clonee where George Nkencho was shot dead, 31-12-2021. Image: Leon Farrell/RollingNews

Ms Nkencho said she longer feels safe in her own home.

“I have lived in that house for eight or nine years but I have lived in that area for probably over ten years.

“I would come home late from school when it was dark, around 5pm from secondary school when it was dark, I would walk home.

“I would walk home from work in the dark before I was driving. I have always felt completely secure. Me and my friends in the area, we would always be out in the dark and it was never a problem but right now I don’t feel secure going outside the house in the dark.

“I don’t feel secure walking around on my own most of the time. I just feel like I no longer belong. I feel anxious all the time.

“Everybody knows where our house is. It has been put on the media, our address everything. There are a lot of crazies out there and you don’t know how someone will react.

“You don’t know, is this is a far-right person, they might say something to you, they might do something to you and I don’t feel secure.”

Gloria Nkencho, sister of George Nkencho, outside Leinster House as the Nkencho family and TDs call for a public investigation into Garda killing of George Nkencho, 11-02-2021. Image: Sam Boal/RollingNews

Ms Nkencho said she does not have faith in the GSOC investigation into her brother’s death, noting that it took the ombudsman 28 days to interview her family.

She said she wants the investigation to get to the truth without and bias or outside distraction; however, she is concerned about the level of resources being made available to GSOC.

You can listen back to the full interview here: