A suspended Garda Superintendent yesterday asked the officer who initially headed the investigation into the death of cattle dealer Mr Richie Barron in 1996, to accept that a confession allegedly obtained from Mr Frank McBrearty Junior in relation to that death was "a fairytale", writes Mary Carolan.
Supt John Fitzgerald, who headed the investigation into Mr Barron's death from October 14th 1996 to February 5th 1997, told Supt Kevin Lennon at the Morris tribunal that he had "no comment" to make on that issue at this stage.
Mr Justice Morris said the matter would be dealt with in another module of the tribunal, which is inquiring into certain Garda activities in Co Donegal.
Later yesterday, Supt Fitzgerald denied a suggestion by Mr Martin Giblin SC, for the extended McBrearty family and others, that he should have resigned as head of the investigation. He also denied he should have pressed harder to establish whether an informant who supplied information to the gardaí suggesting Mr Barron may have been murdered was a reliable informant.
He didn't accept the investigation into the death of Mr Barron, while he headed it, was a failure. Asked was it a success, he said he could not comment on that matter at this stage.
He denied he had failed to properly investigate Mr Frank McBrearty Senior's statement that he could account for the movements of his son Frank and his nephew Mr Mark McConnell on the night of Mr Barron's death. He denied these matters were incompetently investigated in order to leave open the possibility that the information supplied by a Garda informant was correct.
Mr Giblin said his clients did not believe, as far as their dealings with the gardaí were concerned, that they had experienced an open, caring and sympathetic police force. Earlier, the tribunal heard Supt Kevin Lennon took over the investigation into Mr Barron's death in February 1997, following the granting of Mr Fitzgerald's request for a transfer to Manorhamilton. Mr Lennon is representing himself before the tribunal.
When Mr Justice Morris queried the direction of his cross-examination of Mr Fitzgerald, Mr Lennon said: "The public domain has been filled with rumour and innuendo that I am the individual responsible for the investigation of the death of Richie Barron in 1996. My reputation has been well and truly put at risk in this regard, that I somehow mismanaged, misconducted or misdirected enquiries into the unfortunate events in Raphoe. The town of Raphoe is littered with victims and so is the Garda Síochána." It was in order to defend his reputation that he was seeking to establish from Mr Fitzgerald what had happened in the early days of the Barron investigation, Mr Lennon said.
During a number of sharp exchanges between the two Garda officers, Mr Fitzgerald told Mr Lennon: "You got into this in late September 1997. In the meantime, William Doherty was feeding you and O'Dowd [Garda John O'Dowd] information concerning subversives and every iota of it was wrong . . . this same William Doherty was the source of O'Dowd's information in this case. Doherty was found to be a false witness and Noel McBride was found to be a false witness." Mr Fitzgerald suggested that the cover of Mr Doherty and Mr McBride was blown in September 1997 and it was then that Mr Lennon "took an interest". He said Mr Lennon was "very annoyed" about the way Mr Doherty and Mr McBride were dealt with.
He also suggested that Mr Lennon had moved to "scuttle" all that had happened "because your informant was blown".
Mr Lennon said Mr Fitzgerald knew nothing about what Mr Lennon had done from February to September 1997. He listed a large number of criticisms of the investigation into Mr Barron's death prior to February 1997. Mr Fitzgerald stood over his handling of the investigation.
Mr Lennon also asked Mr Fitzgerald what he meant when he had earlier said he regarded Chief Supt Denis Fitzpatrick and Mr Lennon as being overly ambitious.
While agreeing there was nothing wrong with ambition and that he himself had sought promotion several times to the rank of Chief Supt, Mr Fitzgerald said there were certain events which had led to his holding the view the other two officers were overly ambitious. There was "a cloak of secrecy" and no sharing of information with district officers and the division about what was happening.
Mr Eamonn Walsh, counsel for the family of Mr Richie Barron, told Mr Fitzgerald the family were very unhappy with the conduct of the Garda investigation into his death. Mr Walsh said the family believed they had been "led up the garden path" for the past seven years and that they had had to rely on local radio, gossip and press reports for information. They were also unhappy no senior garda had attended Mr Barron's funeral.
Mr Fitzgerald said he had spoken with the family and called to Mrs Barron after the death. He could not attended the funeral and had not delegated another officer to attend. The family had the full sympathy of the Garda.