Morris tribunal:A Strabane publican said yesterday that when he was arrested in 1996 he was shown postmortem photographs of cattle-dealer Richie Barron, who gardaí believed had been murdered. Martin McCallion was the head doorman at Frankie's nightclub, owned by the McBreartys, in Raphoe, Co Donegal, in 1996.
The tribunal has since found that Mr Barron was a hit-and-run victim.
However, after the death in October 1996, gardaí believed he was murdered and that Frank McBrearty jnr and Mark McConnell were suspects. On foot of a false witness statement they believed the two men were seen coming down through the car park on the night of the death covered in blood and spoke to Mr McCallion.
He made a statement about what he saw that night. He did not see the two men and said Mr McBrearty was in the nightclub all night and could not see how it was possible he was missing at any stage.
The tribunal yesterday began the seventh sub-module into the arrest and detention of Mr McCallion on December 8th, 1996.He said he had no complaints against any gardaí and was treated fairly in Letterkenny Garda station after he was arrested in Lifford.He said he was treated well during his first interview. On the second interview, the tone changed. This same garda, one of two present this time, was accusing him of conspiracy to murder and Mr McCallion said: "You must be f*****g joking.
"He showed me photos and he said: 'Does that not bother you?' and I said: "It doesn't bother me."
It was a booklet of photos of Mr Barron lying in the morgue.