A tribunal chairman has said it is "puzzling" that a Garda whistleblower did not contribute "bombshell information" to an initial fact-finding inquiry into the garda handling of the murder of Baiba Saulite.
The tribunal at Dublin Castle is investigating alleged systems failures within the gardaí over the case of the mother-of-two, who was shot dead at her home in Swords, Co Dublin on November 20th, 2006.
The murder remains unsolved.
Retired Garda Sergeant William Hughes said the day after the murder, Detective Inspector Walter O'Sullivan told him that the Commissioner's office had been "well aware" of threats to Ms Saulite's life.
Sgt Hughes also claimed Inspector O’Sullivan told him Ms Saulite had asked for Garda protection and had been refused.
Counsel for An Garda Síochána, Mr Mícheál O Higgins SC, asked Sgt Hughes why he had not relayed this "fairly seismic" information to an initial Garda fact-finding investigation into the case.
Sgt Hughes said he expected Inspector O’Sullivan would himself give the information to the fact-finding investigation. He added that he was “reticent” to report that Ms Saulite had sought protection “when the entire structure of management seemed to be saying the opposite”.
Sgt Hughes said he included the information in his report to a disciplinary inquiry in 2008.
He said he told the fact-finding inquiry in 2006 that he felt there had been a "systems failure" because crimes prior to the murder, including arson attempts on Ms Saulite and her solicitor John Hennessy, had not been properly correlated.
Tribunal Chairman Mr Justice Seán Ryan asked the witness, “Can you understand why it is puzzling that you didn’t mention this – clearly, bombshell information — for two years? Isn’t this the biggest systems failure of them all, that they turned down the request for protection?”
Sgt Hughes agreed that in hindsight he should have mentioned the “bombshell information” earlier.
He also agreed that in hindsight, he should have read the draft victim impact report submitted to him by Ms Saulite the week before her murder, in which she said “I am very scared for my life”.
Sgt Hughes said that when he met Ms Saulite on Nov 14th, 2006 at Swords Garda Station, she was “positive and upbeat and had a great confidence in herself”.
He said he was absolutely certain that Ms Saulite did not express any fears for her safety, and that if she had, he would have asked her if she wanted to make a formal complaint.
The tribunal also heard that Sgt Hughes told the late psychiatrist Dr Joseph Fernandez that he felt "partly responsible" for the circumstances leading to the murder.
“I was just sorry at the way things had turned out,” said Sgt Hughes, who said that if Ms Saulite had been afforded 24-hour protection like her solicitor was, “maybe her murder could have been prevented”.
“I don’t know how the differentiation came to arise between Mr Hennessy and Baiba Saulite,” he said.
Mr Hughes’ allegations are denied by An Garda Síochána. The tribunal continues on Tuesday.