It was a head-on challenge to Mr James Gogarty's story, in which Mr Garrett Cooney served up "four witnesses and a funeral" in defence of his client, Mr Joseph Murphy. Not for the first time, Mr Cooney attacked Mr Gogarty's version of the meeting with the former minister for foreign affairs, Mr Ray Burke.
Relying on divergent accounts from a garda, a solicitor, an auctioneer and bank accounts, he also delivered surprising new evidence to challenge the witness on two crucial points - when the meeting happened and who attended it.
Mr Gogarty alleges that Mr Murphy was centrally involved in the Burke payoff and attended the meeting in the politician's house in June 1989. Yesterday, however, Mr Cooney claimed Mr Murphy was in London on the day the meeting most probably happened, and produced evidence of his movements to back this up.
The alibi covers much of the seven-day period in June 1989 during which the meeting at Mr Burke's home in Swords is supposed to have happened.
As usual, Mr Gogarty had the best lines and the loudest laughs, but on this occasion Mr Cooney was left with the broadest smile at the end of the day. June 1989 was the month of the Tiananmen Square massacre. In Ireland, however, it was an election month.
On June 8th, the developer Mr Michael Bailey wrote the famous letter promising to "procure" planning permission for the lands the Murphy group planned to develop in north Co Dublin. The election took place on June 15th.
Mr Gogarty has said he cannot recall the actual day the meeting with Mr Burke took place, but he believes it was "a few days" after June 8th. Last week, on learning that this was a Thursday, he said he believed it happened on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week, June 12th-14th.
In his evidence, he said Mr Burke was in a rush during the afternoon meeting. Mr Gogarty's affidavit notes the politician as saying he had a radio or television appointment later in the day. Yesterday, Mr Cooney revealed that the only day during this period on which Mr Burke appeared on television was June 8th.
According to RTE, he appeared on a Today Tonight election special with Mr Des O'Malley. His next appearance was on the night of the election count, June 16th. However, Mr Murphy was in London on June 8th, according to Mr Cooney. Two days later, he came over for a funeral. He left Dublin airport again on the following Monday, June 12th.
This was Mr Cooney's day for an ambush. The JMSE legal team had known about Mr Murphy's movements for months. The alibi, and the fact that two priests would back it up, even leaked to a friendly journalist. However, it declined to supply the tribunal with this information until it had a chance to cross-examine Mr Gog arty. From the witness box, Mr Gogarty repeatedly taunted the team for failing to show its hand.
"I have made full disclosure even of my private papers and you have disclosed damn all."
Mr Cooney tried last week without success to pin him down regarding the exact date of the Burke meeting. Yesterday, though, revenge was sweet as Mr Cooney revealed that Mr Murphy returned to London on June 6th, after attending a wedding in Waterford.
On June 9th, he heard of the death of an elderly relative in Co Leitrim. He attended the removal and funeral over the weekend, on June 10th and 11th, before driving back to Dublin and flying to London on the Monday morning. Mr Cooney had nothing to say about his subsequent movements.
This still leaves the possibility that Mr Murphy could have returned to Dublin for the meeting on the three following days before the election. His story will have to be checked, of course, but JMSE's lawyers seemed confident of strong corroborating evidence.
Mr Gogarty, his hands covered in writing, appeared subdued in the witness box at first, but gradually grew more combative. At one stage, Mr Cooney told him not to be looking at his lawyers. "I'm not, I'm looking at you, I've a pain in me face looking at you," Mr Gogarty replied, to the amusement of a packed public gallery.
"Beauty's only skin deep, Mr Cooney," Mr Justice Flood interjected gently.
Mr Cooney's case is that Mr Murphy had no "hand, act or part" in the Burke payment. In 1989, he was only 26 or 27 years of age and had entered his father's business, but only in the UK.
According to Mr Cooney, the witness brought Mr Murphy into his story to obtain vengeance and to cover up his own involvement in the Burke payoff. It was all "sheer malicious invention" on Mr Gogarty's part.
Hand written notes made by a Garda superintendent who interviewed Mr Gogarty showed that the money for Mr Burke was counted on June 8th and that Mr Gogarty and Mr Bailey went to Mr Burke's house after 4 p.m. on the "same day". Mr Gogarty and his lawyer contended that the note referred to "some day".
