A Donegal Garda superintendent yesterday defended his decision to destroy notes which were said to be crucial to the defence of a fellow officer.
Supt Tom Long admitted to destroying notes he had taken of two meetings in March 1999 in which allegations were made against certain gardaí, including suspended officer Supt Kevin Lennon.
Supt Lennon, who is representing himself at the tribunal because he says he cannot afford legal representation, said Supt Long, as a garda with 29 years' experience, should have been aware that the notes should not have been destroyed.
Accusing the witness of being "inclined to destroy notes", Supt Lennon said that the notes were "crucial" to his defence and went to the heart of the allegations.
But Supt Long denied the claims, saying there was "nothing sinister" in the destruction of the notes, which were only "rough pieces of paper". Supt Long said that he had incorporated the notes into statements to the Carty inquiry, the internal Garda investigation into alleged misconduct in Co Donegal. Once he had done this, he no longer regarded them as relevant.
Rejecting the claim that their destruction was a "very serious issue", Supt Long said that he did not wish to "deprive" anyone of the notes. "I didn't know you were going to be a defendant," he added.
But Supt Lennon said it would not have made any difference if the notes were written on "cigarette packets". He should have kept them to facilitate a person's constitutional right to defend themselves.
The notes related to a meeting between Supt Long and Ms Sheenagh McMahon, the estranged wife of Det Garda Noel McMahon, on March 22nd 1999, and a meeting between the superintendent and Ms Moya Jane O'Doherty, Ms McMahon's sister and solicitor, two days later.
Ms O'Doherty was said to have alleged that Det Garda McMahon had left a message on her answering machine on March 16th 1999 in which he threatened to "take the law into his own hands" if he was not allowed access to his children, two of whom were staying with Ms O'Doherty at the time.
Supt Long said that further allegations against Det Garda McMahon and Supt Lennon were made by Ms McMahon at their meeting on March 22nd. These included an allegation that the two officers and Ms Adrienne McGlinchey, an alleged IRA "informer", were "mixing stuff", later described as fertiliser, in a shed in the McMahons' back yard. Supt Lennon put it to Supt Long that the allegations were "what he wanted to hear".
Supt Long replied: "I did not want to hear those things. No."
The tribunal was told that Ms McMahon would deny saying she saw the individuals in question "mixing stuff" in the shed.
Supt Lennon further put it to Supt Long that there was "no hurry" in the investigation into the alleged threatening phone call. But Supt Long said he could not have acted any quicker. The day after he received the complaint was St Patrick's Day, but he appointed an investigator the day after that. Supt Long admitted, however, that he did not comply with the victims' charter or offer Ms O'Doherty support services.
Nor did he ask Ms O'Doherty for a statement. Asked why this was the case, Supt Long replied: "I believed there were much more serious things to come and they did come."
Earlier, Supt Long denied an allegation, relayed second-hand, that he had tried to get Ms McGlinchey "upstairs" with a bottle of vodka while he was staying overnight at a hotel in Buncrana in 1993/94. Ms McMahon said Ms that McGlinchey had made the allegation to her.
Supt Long said he had encountered Ms McGlinchey and another person in the hotel bar and had bought them a drink. He claimed they were drunk and that Ms McGlinchey began verbally abusing him, saying that he had been "f***ed out of Letterkenny for not doing your job". Supt Long said he was embarrassed by the situation and spoke to the hotel owner, who got her a taxi home.
The tribunal continues today.
