Morris tribunal: Donegal publican Frank McBrearty jnr yesterday walked out of the Morris tribunal for the fourth time.
"I can understand that Mr McBrearty is under a considerable amount of pressure," tribunal chairman Mr Justice Frederick Morris said after the witness left the building.
"Perhaps he will come back in the morning, and if he does I will certainly allow him to continue at 10am tomorrow morning. If he doesn't, then I will have to consider what is the correct thing to do."
It happened during a cross-examination by a solicitor representing a garda who questioned Mr McBrearty when he was arrested a decade ago at the time of the investigations into the death of hit-and run-victim Richie Barron.
During questioning by solicitor Tom Murphy, Mr McBrearty jnr several times threatened to walk out.
He said that Mr Murphy was accusing him of murder.
Mr Murphy represents retired detective John Fitzpatrick, who questioned Mr McBrearty during his arrest on December 4th, 1996.
Earlier, Mr McBrearty jnr said he accepted his signature is on a controversial document purporting to be an admission that he assaulted cattle dealer Richie Barron.
However, Mr McBrearty denies he ever made the false statement admitting to the assault, which appears on the first page of a two-page document.
The second page, where Mr McBrearty says his father is innocent, bears his signature, while the first page, on which an assault on Mr Barron is described, is unsigned.
Mr McBrearty said he made no statement of admission, but made a statement saying his father had not bribed witnesses.
"I signed a statement with words to that effect on it, but I did not sign a confession," he said.
"If you look at the confession, page one incriminates me, and page two is defending my father."
Mr McBrearty said he believed detectives later added the purported admission on the first page.
Four handwriting witnesses have told the tribunal that, as a matter of probability, the signature on the second page belongs to Mr McBrearty.
"I did not make any confession or [ have] a confession read over to me," he said.
George Bermingham SC said his clients had "conducted themselves absolutely properly" while questioning Mr McBrearty in Garda custody. Mr Bermingham represents Det Sgt Gerard McGrath, Det Insp Eamon O'Grady and retired Det Sgt John Melody, who questioned Mr McBrearty during his arrest on December 4th, 1996.