A midlands nurse told a jury she was shocked when gardai showed a document with her purported signature written on it by someone else.
Ms Margaret McLoughlin from Athlone, said she worked for 16 years as a nurse at the St Francis Medical Centre, Ballinderry, Mullingar, a private hospital run by the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady.
She said she briefly remembered signing forms for the accused woman in the case, while on night duty on one occasion. Her true signature was on a second document shown to her by gardai.
Sister Mary Gregory O'Reilly, of the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady, with an address at Lincoln Place, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to forging Ms McLoughlin's name on a document on or about February 24th, 1992, with intent to defraud.
Judge Kieran O'Connor and the jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court also heard that the question of the signature on the document was raised with Sister Gregory while she was being voluntarily interviewed by the gardai in the course of an investigation of a crime committed by another person.
Det Sgt Gerry Nohilly told Mr Patrick Keane SC, defending, he did not notice any change in Sister Gregory during the interview after gardai told her about the crime committed by the other person.
He did not recall her saying she was stunned and she did not tell gardai she was feeling unwell. She was offered refreshments several times and was free to leave at any time she wished.
Most of the time was taken up in connection with the other person's crime and a lot of it with Sister Gregory examining documents shown to her by the gardai.
Det Sgt Nohilly agreed with Mr Keane that when he recommended the prosecution of Sister Gregory and later swore an information to get a warrant for her arrest, he believed the document had been used in the incorporation of a company called All-Ireland Childrens' Hospice Limited.
He said he probably still would have recommended her prosecution even if he was aware that the document had not been used, because he believed she did not have the right to sign another person's name to it. He probably would have depended, though, on advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Det Sgt Nohilly agreed the company had been correctly incorporated with documents duly signed by all those named on them. He had to accept counsel's suggestion that the indictment under which Sister Gregory appeared in court referred to a document used in the forming of the company.
The detective denied Mr Keane's suggestion that he and two other detectives were aggressive and behaved discourteously to Sister Gregory who had travelled voluntarily to Mullingar Garda station.
She signed the notes made during the interview as being correct and accurate.
Det Sgt Nohilly also denied counsel's suggestion that Det Garda Michael O'Gara stood to one side over Sister Gregory in an "oppressive manner". She sat at a table on one side opposite them. He was not aware that she suffered from goitre or swollen glands at the time.
Det Sgt Nohilly further denied Mr Keane's suggestion that gardai spent most of the time discussing the crime committed by another person so as to throw Sister Gregory off guard in relation to the document.
Det Sgt Nohilly said a claim by Mr Keane that the gardai showed her a different document and covered part of it to conceal it from her before snatching it away was "a ridiculous suggestion". He would have no reason to do that. Sister Gregory did state it was her writing on the document.
The hearing continues.