Garda agrees Carty's GP did not hold back information

One of the first gardaí to arrive at the scene of the Abbeylara siege told the tribunal he was warned about Mr John Carty's antagonism…

One of the first gardaí to arrive at the scene of the Abbeylara siege told the tribunal he was warned about Mr John Carty's antagonism towards the Garda because of a previous "incident".

But Garda John Gibbons said he did not inquire into the nature of the event because his focus was on operational matters.

Garda Gibbons, who returned to the witness box to clarify evidence he gave earlier this week, agreed with Mr Justice Barr that Mr Carty's doctor, Dr Patrick Cullen, was "marking your card very clearly" in relation to the antagonism between Mr Carty and the Garda.

Garda Gibbons said Dr Cullen told him that his client suffered from depression, and might not like gardaí around the house because of an incident at the time of his arrest for suspicion of burning a local GAA club mascot.

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The witness said he was unaware that Mr Carty had complained of ill-treatment during his arrest.

Asked whether he asked about the incident alluded to by Dr Cullen, Garda Gibbons replied, "I didn't, no".

He said at that time he thought Mr Carty might have injured himself, and getting him treated was more important.

Mr Justice Barr put it to Garda Gibbons that spending "one more minute" with Dr Cullen would have made little difference. The garda replied that had he known about the alleged assault, it would not have changed any action he or a colleague would have taken.

He stressed it "definitely was not" his intention to make any criticism of Dr Cullen in previous evidence, nor to imply that the doctor was holding back information from gardaí.

Later, Supt Joseph Shelly, who was in charge of the operation, told the tribunal he spoke to Garda Gibbons when he arrived at the scene at about 7 p.m., and there was no reference at that stage to the possible reasons for Mr Carty's animosity towards the Garda Síochána.

Joe Humphreys

Joe Humphreys

Joe Humphreys is an Assistant News Editor at The Irish Times and writer of the Unthinkable philosophy column