A man accused of capital murder told gardai he had "just wanted to kill myself" and to "attack the f. . . ing system", a jury at the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday.
Mr Daniel O'Toole (37), of Crumlin, Dublin, denies murdering Sgt Andrew Callanan on July 21st, 1999, at Tallaght Garda station. Mr O'Toole pleaded guilty to manslaughter. If found guilty of capital murder he will be given an automatic 40-year prison sentence. He pleaded not guilty to a charge of arson.
Det Insp Dermot O'Sullivan of the Special Detective Unit said that at 5.02 a.m. on July 21st, 1999, the 999 line at Harcourt Square received a mobile phone call from a man asking about the fire at Tallaght Garda station. Insp O'Sullivan said he rang the recorded number back at 7.30 a.m.
The man who answered had a Dublin accent. He said he was Daniel O'Toole and he had been at the station at the time of the fire. Insp O'Sullivan asked to meet him. He replied: "I will never see the light of day. I've committed a terrible act. Is he dead? Is the sergeant dead?"
The inspector said he did not tell the caller Sgt Callanan was dead and they arranged to meet at a road junction in Tallaght.
The man then said: "It's the f . . . ing system. I wanted to attack the f . . . ing system, the whole f . . . ing system, the lot," the court was told.
Ten minutes later the accused got out of a car and said: "It's me you're looking for." Sgt Martin McLoughlin then arrested him for criminal damage by fire.
In cross-examination Insp O'Sullivan said Mr O'Toole's first words were, "How's the sergeant?" and when he was asked what came over him, he replied: "I just wanted to kill myself."
Garda Lorraine Travers said several months before Sgt Callanan's death she went with Ms Bernadette O'Toole to a Family Law Court to seek a barring order for her husband, after their daughter made allegations of sexual abuse against him. Mr O'Toole repeatedly tried to talk to his then wife. He said their daughter was making it up, "she was a f . . . ing bitch and a liar", Garda Travers said. "I told him not to talk to her."
"He seemed angry at me too. He was rude and aggressive towards me. He said he would `f . . . ing sort me'," Garda Travers said.
The trial before Mr Justice Carney and a jury of seven women and five men continues.