The Morris tribunal has heard claims that gardaí forged a confession by Mr Frank McBrearty jnr which admitted the killing of Richie Barron, a cattle dealer from Raphoe. The death of Mr Barron is central to the inquiry which was set up to investigate allegations of corruption by some gardaí in Donegal.
Counsel for the tribunal, Mr Paul McDermott, SC, yesterday continued delivery of the tribunal's opening statement.
He said that Mr McBrearty jnr was "vehement in his denial" that he ever admitted killing Mr Barron.
However, Det Sgt John Melody and Det Garda John Fitzpatrick of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation said Mr McBrearty had signed a statement confessing to hitting Mr Barron on the head with a piece of timber.
In the alleged confession, Mr McBrearty was quoted as saying: "I picked up a bit of timber. When we stopped him [Mr Barron], he lashed out at us but he missed. I hit him a slap on the head and he fell back. We then ran. I dropped the timber I had on the way back."
Mr McDermott pointed out that no piece of timber was found at the scene.
"Frank McBrearty jnr was never asked to describe the 'bit of timber' or describe the area in which he had dropped it or the route which he had taken back from the scene," Mr McDermott said.
The final lines of the alleged confession were on the reverse of the page and referred to Mr McBrearty saying he believed his father had never intimidated anyone or offered anyone money not to give evidence against his son.
Mr McDermott said he understood that it was Mr McBrearty's contention that if his signature appeared on the confession, it was "obtained by a trick". There was no reference to Mr Barron's death on the reverse page and no part of the first page had been signed or initialled by Mr McBrearty.
If Mr McBrearty did not make the confession, two possibilities arose, Mr McDermott said. First, he might have been tricked into signing the piece of the document which referred to his father. "The other possibility which he raises is that his signature was forged."
The signature was analysed by Det Sgt JohP. Lynch and by a British forensic document examiner and both found similarities between it and Mr McBrearty's signature. However, the forensic expert, Mr Kim Harry Hughes, found the text on the front of the statement may have been written on a different surface to the text on the reverse.
Both detectives involved in procuring the confession denied all allegations of wrongdoing, Mr McDermott reminded the inquiry.
In June 1999, Garda Tina Fowley told Insp H. Coll of the Carty investigation team that on the day of Mr McBrearty's alleged confession, she saw Det Insp John McGinley (now Supt) writing something on a sheet. As she walked by, he drew her attention to a signature of Mr McBrearty and asked: "Is that a good likeness?"
When he left the room, she told Sgt Brendan Roache what had happened and he dismissed it as a "prank" by Supt McGinley.
She grew worried when concerns were raised in the media about the veracity of Mr McBrearty's confession. Supt McGinley has denied the incident took place while Sgt Roache's account of the incident was similar to the account given by Garda Fowley.
In a subsequent investigation by Supt Kevin Lennon, Mr McDermott found it "extraordinary" that Supt Lennon's team was not told whether the confession was on one page or two, despite requesting this information.
Supt Lennon recommended that no prosecution be taken against Mr McBrearty for which he gave 12 reasons. He said the case would not "stand the rigours of cross-examination" and that Mr McBrearty had not signed the main content of the admission. He also said there was a "total lack of corroborative evidence".
Yesterday, Mr McDermott asked why the DPP was not told about the alleged confession. He queried the Garda delay in using the statement as a basis for the further arrest and detention of Mr Mark McConnell, as he had been implicated in it, and he asked what had happened to reduce Garda confidence in the confession, as evidenced in Supt Lennon's report.
The tribunal resumes on Monday at Donegal Courthouse.
The Morris tribunal terms of reference and full text of the opening statements made yesterday are available on The Irish Times website at http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/special/
