The estranged wife of Det Garda Noel McMahon hated his superior, Supt Kevin Lennon, and was out to "get him", the Morris tribunal heard yesterday.
Both men are key figures in the tribunal's investigations into alleged Garda corruption in Donegal.
Garda Alison Teape, who is now in a relationship with Det Garda McMahon, said Ms Sheenagh McMahon had a "serious gripe" with Supt Lennon because he had received a "Policeman of the Year" award.
Ms McMahon believed this should have gone to her husband for his work in the Point Inn drugs investigation.
Last year the Court of Criminal Appeal found that there had been a miscarriage of justice in the prosecution of the Point Inn owner, Mr Frank Shortt, on drugs charges.
Garda Teape said she became friendly with the McMahon family after working with Det Garda McMahon for a week in Letterkenny during her training. She frequently called to the McMahon home and said Ms McMahon "never stopped going on about Supt Lennon".
"She hated him," said Garda Teape and added that Ms McMahon continually referred to the award. Det Insp McMahon, on the other hand, "couldn't care less" about getting an award, Garda Teape said. "He wasn't bothered about it at all."
On one occasion Ms McMahon showed Garda Teape a page of writing and said she would "get Kevin Lennon with this". The page contained a statement from Supt Lennon to Det Garda McMahon, saying Supt Lennon had done nothing wrong. The statement was a crucial part of the miscarriage-of-justice application in the Point Inn case.
Garda Teape said she did not ask Ms McMahon about the document because she was "absolutely fed up hearing about Kevin Lennon".
"When she started talking about Kevin Lennon, it just went on and on and on.
"You didn't get a word in edgeways," Garda Teape said.
She said Det Garda McMahon had absolutely no idea what the document was about and she couldn't recall discussing it in detail with him, even when it was raised in the miscarriage-of-justice case in the Court of Criminal Appeal.
Ms McMahon's counsel, Mr Cormac Corrigan, said Ms McMahon would tell the tribunal that Garda Teape had looked at the statement and "partially read" it. Garda Teape denied this. Ms McMahon would also tell the tribunal she did not hate Supt Lennon.
"That's a lie, too," Garda Teape said.
Asked why she did not speak to Ms McMahon any more, Garda Teape said: "I don't like her. She said vicious things and I just don't like the woman."
Garda Teape said Ms McMahon had alleged that she had been having an affair with her husband when he was still married.
Garda Teape said that was untrue and that their relationship only began after the couple had parted. She stopped speaking to Ms McMahon some time in 1999 because of the allegations. She said Ms McMahon had also alleged that other women had had affairs with her husband and that was not the case.
Mr Corrigan asked if it was true that Garda Teape's evidence was "coloured" by her dislike of Ms McMahon and by her relationship with Det Garda McMahon.
"No, I'm under oath and I'm telling the truth," she said.
