Counsel for the Garda Commissioner has accused a witness of relying in his evidence to the Barr tribunal on what others had told him about events at the siege in Abbeylara, rather than his own recollection.
The tribunal is investigating the shooting dead of John Carthy by gardaí outside his home at Abbeylara in April 2000 after a 25-hour siege.
Mr Martin Shelly, a friend of Mr Carthy, appeared before the tribunal on July 8th when he made an allegation against a garda which had not been contained in his statements to the tribunal.
His evidence was adjourned and he returned yesterday to confirm this allegation. Mr Shelly told the tribunal that on the night the siege began, he heard Mr Tom Walsh, a cousin of Mr Carthy, tell a detective garda about an allegation of Garda brutality which Mr Carthy had made in 1998.
Mr Diarmuid McGuinness, for the Garda Commissioner, asked Mr Shelly why he had not mentioned this in his statement to gardaí in the days following the shooting. "I didn't have time to think of everything, I was after losing a good friend," he replied.
Mr McGuinness told Mr Shelly: "You seem to have difficulty relying on your own recollection and have based your beliefs on what other people have told you."
Mr Shelly replied: "I was sworn in to tell the truth and that is what I'm telling you."
