A garda informant said he implicated members of the McBrearty family in the killing of Mr Richie Barron because he was under pressure from another Garda informant and a garda, the Morris tribunal heard yesterday.
The inquiry, which is investigating the handling of Mr Barron's death, heard that the informant, Mr Noel McBride, told gardaí he saw Mr Frank McBrearty Jnr and his cousin, Mr Mark McConnell, coming down the night-club car- park on the night Mr Barron was killed.
However, it later emerged that Mr McBride was not in the village that night - he was at a christening with his girlfriend several miles away.
Mr Peter Charleton SC, for the tribunal, said Mr McBride's movements could have been easily checked by gardaí.
However, this "pales into insignificance" when the detail in Mr McBride's statement is examined, he said.
"How did it get there if you accept that Noel McBride was not in Raphoe on the crucial night?"
Mr Charleton was speaking in his third day of reading his openeing statement to the inquiry.
According to Mr |Charleton Garda John O'Dowd, then based in Raphoe Garda station, said Mr McBride claimed on December 4th, 1996 that Mr Frank McBrearty Snr had given him £500 "to keep quiet", a couple of days after Mr Barron's death. In his statement, Mr McBride was quoted as saying: "Old Frank asked me what did I see the night Richard Barron died. I said I know nothing at all . . . Old Frank then said to me you are not to tell the guards or your family anything about this and everything will be all right."
He later claimed that the McBreartys had told him to check into St Conal's psychiatric hospital and to say that everything he told the gardaí was false.
He alleged that Mr Frank McBrearty Snr later offered him £5,000 to withdraw the allegations. However, in September 1997, Mr McBride withdrew these statements, claiming he made them because of pressure from Mr William Doherty, a Garda informant, who had threatened to beat him, and by Garda John O'Dowd.
"John O'Dowd rang me a lot as well. He always seemed to be putting words in my mouth, like if I said one thing, he would say 'No, no, no, it's not that'. He would change it to say another thing," Mr McBride said in a statement in September 1997.
Mr Charleton said that, Mr William Doherty was arrested in September 1997 in connection with hoax phone calls made to the home of Mr Michael and Ms Charlotte Peoples in 1996. During a search of his property, a notebook owned by Garda O'Dowd was found.
Mr Doherty said he had never spoken to Garda O'Dowd, despite telephone records showing calls between his and Garda O'Dowd's number.
He later said Garda O'Dowd told him in 1999 that he had the murder "wrapped up" and said the garda asked him if he would say he had seen Mr McBrearty Jnr and Mr McConnell in the car-park on the night of Mr Barron's death.
"He claims to have told Garda John O'Dowd that he could not, because his family knew he was at home that night, but that he might know of somebody who would do it," Mr Charleton said.
Mr Doherty also claimed that Garda O'Dowd had given him Mr McBrearty's private telephone number "so as to allow him to start abusing him", Mr Charleton said.
Mr Doherty also claimed that defamatory leaflets were printed and given to him by Det Sgt John White to distribute in the area. The leaflets referred to the "murdering McBreartys".
According to the inquiry carried out by Assistant Commissioner Mr Kevin Carty, Mr Doherty led gardaí "on a merry dance" and was "a compulsive liar and totally unreliable as a witness".
The Carty report said: "A failure to properly evaluate William Doherty as a source of information by Kevin Lennon and John O'Dowd has caused untold damage to the reputation of An Garda Síochána in the Donegal division."
Garda O'Dowd reported unfit for duty on April 24th, 1999 and was later transferred from Raphoe to Lifford Garda station. When he was interviewed by Supt John F. O'Connor and Insp H Coll in June 1999, he said he had been advised by his solicitor to make no statement to the gardaí.
"When reminded that he was a member of An Garda Síochána, he said: "Maybe I'm wrong, but that is the legal advice I go on and I am making no statement."
Garda O'Dowd was suspended in June, 1999 and later arrested in connection with an extortion phone call made to Mr Michael Peoples.
The inquiry heard that Garda O'Dowd did not recall receiving a phone call at 3.50 a.m. on the morning Mr Barron's body was found. Eircom records showed a phone call from Raphoe Garda station was made to the home of Garda O'Dowd at that time.
"When asked about the matter later, Garda John O'Dowd said he could not recall receiving such a phone-call," Mr Charleton said.
Garda O'Dowd was said to have visited the scene of the incident that night, although he was not on duty.
