Morris TribunalTwo gardaí have told the Morris tribunal about an incident where a detective pointed a gun at a colleague's face.
Det Garda Michael Galvin, then a uniformed garda, was stationed in Buncrana until spring 1993. On patrol one night with Garda John Murphy, they noticed Ms Adrienne McGlinchey, an alleged Garda informer, throw a bag over the wall at the Church of Ireland. They entered the graveyard and recovered a steel perforated tube.
Garda Murphy brought it to Buncrana station, Det Insp Kevin Lennon and Det Garda Noel McMahon were contacted.
Garda Galvin said several gardaí were in the day room in Buncrana station, when "the next thing I know Garda Séamus Gordon was staring at McMahon who had his firearm pointed at him." That lasted for at least 20 seconds, he said.
"I remember Lennon saying clearly 'put that gun away Mac', and Det McMahon put it away."
Garda Galvin said there was a stunned silence. "I was much happier when I saw the gun re-holstered," he said. "Very shortly after that both Lennon and McMahon left."
Det Galvin said he thought one of them took the piece of metal which had been recovered.
"I don't think any provocation would justify the production of a firearm," Garda Galvin said. "It is dangerous. There is no safety mechanism on a Smith & Wesson revolver. The slightest touch would put it off when it is cocked."
Afterward, Det Galvin said he remembered Garda Tom McDonagh saying Det McMahon should have got "a box in his mouth". He said he would not want to be in the shoes of a garda who pointed and cocked a loaded gun at a colleague.
Garda Gordon said he did not regard having a gun pointed at him by a detective as a "practical joke". "To me it was not a storm in a teacup but to the man holding the gun it may have been," he said. "I was silent, I couldn't move."
Mr Justice Morris asked him if he was frightened. "I was. I was frightened when the gun was produced. It was horseplay until the firearm was produced."
He said he felt "discouraged" from reporting the incident. "The fact that he [Insp Lennon\] did not deal with it, I presumed I was discouraged then from reporting it. In hindsight I should have reported it, but at the time I expected Insp Lennon to deal with it." The garda was asked if it would be seen as "going up against" Insp Lennon to report the incident. "It would, yes," said Garda Gordon.
Interviewed by tribunal investigator Supt Brian Garvey of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Supt Lennon said he regarded the incident as springing from "a bit of craic" and that he gave Det McMahon a verbal caution, but did not take the matter further.
Garda Gordon said he believed the incident occurred on September 4th, 1992, as he had a record of the recovery of a tripod on that date, but he accepted that it might have been later, as Garda Galvin, who was present, had not joined the unit until February 1993.
He said Supt Lennon was a uniformed inspector at the time.
Supt Lennon, however, said he was not a uniformed inspector in Buncrana in 1993, the year the incident may have taken place, he was stationed in Letterkenny.
Garda Gordon said he did not remember ever seeing a steel tube recovered by gardaí, although he was present when a tripod was recovered from an area where Ms McGlinchey was seen on September 4th, 1992. Supt Lennon said he was on annual leave on that date.
Supt Lennon asked which items were entered in Garda Gordon's notebook before and after the finding of the tripod. The next entry was for October 5th and the prior one was for September 16th, Garda Gordon said. He wrote up the find of a tripod on September 4th while it was fresh in his mind.
Supt Lennon said Garda Murphy recorded a find of a steel item on October 4th and the garda could be confused on dates.
In a statement to the Carty inquiry, Det McMahon totally denied that any such incident took place, the tribunal heard. In a later statement to a tribunal investigator, Det McMahon said there was "a lot of slagging going on" and the gun was not loaded.
"There was disbelief on the part of the unit that it happened and the fact the inspector did nothing about it at the time," Garda Gordon said. He did not see if the gun was loaded, but was told it was afterwards by Garda McDonagh.
The tribunal is examining allegations by Ms McGlinchey that together with suspended Det McMahon and Supt Lennon she mixed explosives that were later used in bogus Garda finds of terrorist arms.