A retired Garda sergeant has told the Morris tribunal there was no truth to an allegation by a Donegal man that an inspector read over a false confession from Frank McBrearty jnr to him while he was under arrest a decade ago.
Mark McConnell has told the tribunal that Insp John McGinley read the document to him shortly before his release on December 4th, 1996. He said the statement, which was four or five pages long, was not the same as the disputed false confession in the possession of the tribunal, which Mr McBrearty denies he signed.
"It never happened," James Leheny, a retired detective sergeant, told the inquiry. "There was no document read over to him. There was no statement."
Mr McConnell and his cousin Mr McBrearty jnr were arrested for murder during the Garda investigation into the death of hit- and-run victim Richie Barron, a Raphoe cattle dealer. The tribunal has found they were innocent.
The former detective also said there was no trouble during Mr McConnell's arrest and detention and that "Mark McConnell was a model prisoner, he was treated with respect and he treated us with respect". Mr Leheny also said he could not accept that Insp McGinley would have risked his career by practising the signature of Frank McBrearty jnr.
He said he "heard it through the grapevine" that Garda Tina Fowley had made a statement alleging that she saw Insp McGinley practising Mr McBrearty's signature in a statement to the team headed by assistant commissioner Kevin Carty, which was sent to Donegal to investigate allegations of Garda wrongdoing.
"I couldn't ever accept that Insp McGinley would do such an act," Mr Leheny told the tribunal.
"I found him an honourable man, I couldn't see him doing it. I don't see what purpose he was going to achieve by such an act. It wouldn't be worth it, putting his career on the line for the sake of solving a crime."
The retired detective also said that he found Garda Fowley "an honourable lady".
"When I was based in Letterkenny," he said, "Garda Fowley had a great relationship with all the detective branch members. I cannot see her being vindictive or doing it for badness or anything. To me, it wouldn't be the Tina Fowley I know."
Mr Leheny admitted notes from his second interview with Mr McConnell had vanished, but denied any knowledge of what had happened to them, insisting he handed them in to the incident room.
At the time he was not concerned about their disappearance as they had no importance to the prosecution. Tribunal barrister Paul McDermott said that "the fundamental proposition that applies to Garda notes of interviews is not whether you believe they are of value or not of value, it's a question of whether the prosecution authority ultimately believes them of value.
"I put in the notes," replied Mr Leheny. "I handed them in to the incident room, there's nothing more I can do about it."