A key witness in the Ian Bailey libel action has claimed in a letter to the DPP that she and her husband have been victimised by gardaí because of her refusal to stand over statements she made implicating Mr Bailey in the murder of Frenchwoman Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
Marie Farrell has claimed in a letter sent to the DPP that a named Garda officer told her that she "would never have a day's peace" for as long as she and her family lived in Schull if she refused to stand over her statement about Mr Bailey.
Ms Farrell claimed the named officer assured her in a phone call in January 2005 that a local man would be charged with a serious assault arising from a shooting incident on January 10th, 2005, in which her husband Chris was injured .
Ms Farrell claimed she received another phone call from the Garda officer towards the end of January 2005 and he said Mr Bailey's libel action would be coming up that year and that she would be expected to attend.
"I told him I would never again go to court and tell lies for the gardaí and that in actual fact, I was considering contacting Mr Bailey's solicitor [ Frank Buttimer] and telling him exactly how I had been drawn into a situation where I was encouraged to lie by senior gardaí.
"He told me if I thought I could take on the gardaí like that and get away with it, then I had another thing coming.
"He said if I spoke to Mr Bailey's solicitor he would ensure that neither my family nor I would ever have a day's peace for as long as we lived in Schull.
"I told him we would sell our house and move and he said no matter where we went in the country, he would ensure the gardaí made us pay.
"He said if I went ahead with contacting Mr Buttimer we could forget about any charges being brought against Mr [ James] McKenna."
The letter was presented yesterday at Schull District Court by solicitor Ray Hennessy on behalf of Ms Farrell's husband who is facing a charge of assaulting Mr McKenna in Schull, on March 29th, 2005.
Ms Farrell wrote the letter to the DPP on January 20th, 2006, after the DPP decided not to prosecute Mr McKenna following a complaint made by Ms Farrell's husband that he had been shot in the row with Mr McKenna on January 10th, 2005.
Supt Liam Horgan said that Ms Farrell's role as a witness in the Bailey libel action had nothing to do with the assault case against Mr Farrell and the letter was "a very sinister attempt to muddy the waters in the case" referring to the case involving Mr McKenna of Toormore, Schull.
Judge James McNulty ruled that the letter may be relevant to an application by Mr Hennessy to have Mr McKenna bound to the peace.
