A garda has told the Morris tribunal she would not have witnessed the withdrawal of a crucial statement to the Carty inquiry if she had known then what she knew now.
Garda Pauline O'Hara was asked by Garda Martin Leonard to accompany him to witness the withdrawal of Ms Sheenagh McMahon's statement on July 9th, 1999. She had heard rumours that Ms McMahon had made a statement alleging her estranged husband's involvement in hoax explosives finds, but she did not know the exact content of the statement.
She went to the McMahon home with Garda Leonard and witnessed the withdrawal of the statement. She did not think Ms McMahon was unwell when she signed the statement.
Ms McMahon will tell the tribunal that she was very nervous and had to leave the table several times during the drafting of the statement. Garda O'Hara said she had no recollection of this.
She said Ms McMahon was advised that she was making the statement against her solicitor's advice. Her solicitor advised her that she was in no fit condition to withdraw the statement because of the stress she was under in family law proceedings.
Ms McMahon will tell the tribunal she was not reminded by Garda Leonard that her solicitor had advised against the withdrawal of the statement.
Garda O'Hara denied that she had been used in the situation because of her relative inexperience. She was in phase four of a five-phase Garda training programme at that time and had been on probation at Letterkenny Garda station. She had been asked to witness Ms McMahon's statement because she was female, and it was procedure to have a female garda present when taking a statement from a woman.
"Isn't it the case that you were used in this situation? Isn't that the truth of the matter?" Mr Cormac Corrigan, counsel for Ms McMahon, asked. "I didn't see it like that at the time," Garda O'Hara said.
The withdrawal of Ms McMahon's statement was "a fundamental and damning blow to the Carty inquiry", Mr Anthony Barr for the tribunal said. It consisted of more than 30 pages and contained serious allegations against gardaí.
Was she aware of the significance of what she had witnessed? Mr Barr asked. "I don't think I was," she said.
Ms McMahon later reinstated the withdrawn statement.
