A Co Tipperary farmer was jailed for 18 months yesterday by the Special Criminal Court for refusing to give evidence at the trial of four men accused of the capital murder of Det Garda Jerry McCabe.
Patrick Harty (53), unmarried, of Toomevara, was committed to prison for contempt of court on Tuesday after he refused to give evidence.
Yesterday his solicitor, Ms Liz McGrath, said it was with "deep regret" that her client was not in a position to purge his contempt. She regretted he was unable to give a reason why he could not give evidence and asked the court for mercy.
Mr Justice Johnson, presiding, said this was a crime "of the utmost gravity". He said it was the duty of every citizen to give every assistance they could in a major criminal trial.
"Mr Harty, from the book of evidence you have evidence to give of an extremely important nature," he told the farmer. The judge said his refusal to give evidence despite legal advice left the court with no option but to impose an 18-month sentence.
It was the seventh day of the trial of four men accused of the capital murder of Det Garda McCabe (52), during an abortive post office van robbery at Adare, Co Limerick, on June 7th, 1996. A fifth man also denies charges connected with the murder and an attempted post office van robbery.
The four facing capital murder charges are Mr Pearse McCauley (34), of Strabane, Co Tyrone, with no fixed address, and three Co Limerick men, Mr Jeremiah Sheehy (36), Abbey Park, Rathkeale; Mr Michael O'Neill (46), of Lisheen Park, Patrickswell; and Mr Kevin Walsh (42), also of Lisheen Park, Patrickswell.
Mr O'Neill, Mr Sheehy, Mr McCauley and Mr Walsh pleaded not guilty to the capital murder in Adare on June 7th, 1996, and not guilty to the attempted murder of Det Garda McCabe's colleague, Det Garda Ben O'Sullivan, on the same date.
They also denied having firearms with intent to endanger life at Adare on June 7th, 1996, conspiracy to commit a robbery in Adare between June 5th and 8th, 1996, and possession of assorted ammunition with intent to endanger life at Adare on June 7th, 1996.
The four also pleaded not guilty to the unlawful possession of two rifles, a handgun and shotgun at Clonolea, Toomevara, Co Tipperary, on June 7th, 1996, and to possession of three shotgun cartridges at Clonolea on the same date.
Mr John Quinn (30), of Faha, Patrickswell, denied the unlawful possession of ammunition at Patrickswell on June 6th, 1996, and denied conspiring with others between June 5th and 8th, 1996, to commit a robbery at Adare.
The court also yesterday began hearing evidence on two issues which arose in the course of the prosecution case. The court was shown a Garda compilation video showing scenes from republican commemorations and a funeral taken over a three-year period.
Defence counsel Mr Anthony Sammon SC, for Mr Walsh, objected to the admissibility of the video evidence. Mr Patrick Gageby SC, for Mr Sheehy, also objected to photographs that were shown to a witness, Mr Denis Bewick.
During the "trial within a trial" the court was shown a 17-minute compilation video shown to Mr Bewick and to Mr Nicholas Bowden. Mr Bowden told the court he saw a man with ginger hair sitting on a wall at the Lantern Lodge outside Adare shortly after he saw five or six cars in convoy driving through the village around 5.30 a.m. on June 7th, 1996.
Det Garda Nicholas Deenihan told the court he showed a compilation video to Mr Bowden, who twice identified a man seen in the video. The video allegedly shows several of the defendants attending various republican meetings. Det Garda Deenihan said the videos were taken at a funeral in March, 1995, at Bodenstown in 1993, at Sean Sabhat commemorations in Limerick, at a parade in Limerick in March, 1996, and at an Easter commemoration in Nenagh in 1996.
He said Mr Bowden twice identified a man in the video scenes.
Cross-examined by Mr Sammon, Det Garda Deenihan said he had edited out sections of the videotapes which showed paramilitary trappings, uniforms, flags and emblems, to be fair to the witnesses. Mr Sammon said he had "left a Tricolour in". Mr Justice Johnson said a Tricolour was not subversive.
Mr Bewick told the court he was driving through Adare on the morning of June 7th, 1996, when a silver car shot out. He had to brake hard and he saw that the driver had a moustache and brownish hair.
The trial continues today.