A post office manager has denied intending to pervert the course of justice by tampering with the urine sample of a friend and work colleague who was arrested on suspicion of drink driving.
It is alleged that the container with the test sample was put in a microwave and that there was little or no urine in the container when it arrived at the testing laboratory.
Kevin Rogers (49) of Mote Park, Roscommon, has pleaded not guilty to the single charge at his trial in Roscommon Circuit Criminal Court. The hearing is expected to last a number of days.
Prosecution barrister Philipp Rahn said the events arose from a road traffic incident on Convent Road in Roscommon on March 3rd last year. Philomena Bernie was knocked down by a car driven by Michael Lyons of Knockcroghery.
Investigating
An investigating garda formed the opinion Mr Lyons had taken alcohol and arrested him for the purpose of taking a sample. It was not possible to acquire a breath sample, so Mr Lyons opted for a urine sample.
Mr Rahn said Mr Lyons worked for An Post and he was later described by Mr Rogers to gardaí as “a colleague and close friend”. The sealed container was posted by registered post to the Medical Bureau of Road Safety in Dublin two days after the incident. The court was told the package appeared to have been subjected to a source of heat, Mr Rahn said.
Mr Rogers was the acting manager at Roscommon post office on the day in question.
The drink driving prosecution did not go ahead as there had been interference with the sample, the court heard.
He could only go ahead with a prosecution for dangerous driving against Mr Lyons and the accused man had pleaded guilty to that charge.
Postman Mark Miley gave evidence of collecting the post from Athleague and other outlying offices on March 5th before bringing it to Roscommon.
Registered post
He was carrying the registered post in a tray into the post office when Mr Rogers ran to him and told him he had to sign a form. He left the tray on a table before going to the overseer's office and signing the form.
He was returning to the van when Mr Rogers shouted at him to come back. He asked him to leave the registered post outside at the van as the official who worked in the sorting office was not present. He did as he was told and brought the remainder of the post into the post office for sorting.
Later he went to find Mr Rogers as he had completed his duties, but could not find him. He went upstairs towards the canteen and met Mr Rogers at the top of the stairs.
He said Mr Rogers zipped down his (Mr Miley’s) jacket and put a box inside it. “He said ‘say nothing, show no one, put back the box and deny all’. I went down and left it back in the registered [post] box.”
The case continues.