The Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, Sir Robert Carswell, will decide today whether the prosecution's chief witness against self-confessed Special Branch agent William Stobie should be compelled to give evidence.
Yesterday the judge heard that the stress of doing so could lead to former reporter and NIO official Neil Mulholland suffering a mental relapse and even becoming suicidal. Consultant psychiatrist Dr Ann McDonnell said the stress of giving evidence could leave him feeling vulnerable.
The former Sunday Life reporter has been summonsed to give evidence at the Belfast Crown Court trial of 51-year-old Stobie who denies involvement in the murders of solicitor Pat Finucane and student Adam Lambert.
Mr Mulholland's legal team, headed by Mr Declan Morgan QC, suggested that to force him to give evidence may contravene his rights under the Human Rights Convention.
Mr Morgan claimed that the consequences of forcing Mr Mulholland into the witness-box could give rise to him suffering inhuman or degrading treatment, although he agreed this would not be the court's objective in ordering him to comply with the witness summons.
Mr Arthur Harvey QC, for Stobie, said that following the new evidence of Dr McDonnell, the matter now rested with the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Mr Harvey submitted that "an appropriate way in which to proceed" was for the DPP to be given an opportunity to consider the doctor's evidence.
Mr Gordon Kerr QC, for the DPP, said that for a court to decide which witnesses should be called "would be pushing it beyond the known boundaries". He said that while the DPP "will of course be anxious to have regard to any evidence", he "at present" intended to call Mr Mulholland.