DOUBLE killer John Gallagher does not intend to remain in this country if he is freed, the three-judge Divisional Court of the High Court was told yesterday.
The court also heard Gallagher had no intention of further troubling the family of two women shot dead eight years ago and of returning to Co Donegal.
Mr Donal O'Donnell SC, for Gallagher, was making submissions on the second day of the hearing as to whether the relatives of the two dead women should be represented at the court inquiry on whether he should be released from the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, Dublin.
Gallagher (29), from Lifford Co Donegal, was found guilty but insane in 1989 of the murder of this former girlfriend, Anne Gillespie, and her mother, Annie, in the grounds of Sligo General Hospital the previous year.
Judgment was reserved by the court yesterday on the application by the relatives for representation. The presiding judge, Mr Justice Geoghegan, said far-reaching issues had been raised. Judgment would be given on July 9th and it was proposed the substantive hearing would begin on July 16th.
Last month, the High Court heard that the Central Mental Hospital director, Dr Charles Smith, had advised he could not justify Gallagher's continued detention on grounds of his "imminent dangerousness". Gallagher was not ill he stated.
Yesterday, Mr O'Donnell said in 1988 a great wrong was done to the Gillespie family. The act was done by Gallagher, although the subsequent adjudication of a jury was that he was not criminally responsible.
Members of the Gillespie family had experienced grief, fear and apprehension. He was reluctantly opposing the application of the relatives to be represented. He did not wish to add further to the "river of troubles" that already ran between the Gallagher and Gillespie families.
Gallagher did not wish to be seen as a protagonist against the Gillespie family and did not wish the application to be seen as some rerun of the criminal trial.
Mr O'Donnell said Gallagher felt nothing but remorse for his 1988 actions. He bore nothing but remorse as far as the surviving members of the family were concerned. There was no intention of troubling them further. Gallagher had not been in contact other than writing a letter at an early stage to express remorse.
Gallagher had said that if released as a result of this application or a determination of the Minister, it was not his intention to return to Co Donegal or remain in this country.
Mr O'Donnell said a psychiatrist who examined Gallagher found nothing to suggest that he was "imminently dangerous Gallagher had no plans to settle scores.
He believed there was no precedent why Mr Patrick Maguire (in whose name the application on behalf of the relatives has been taken) should be entitled to be represented in the proceedings. While he could bring a case against the Government, he could not bring a case against Gallagher.
If there was a case for Mr Maguire to be represented at the inquiry, then there was a much stronger case for victims to be entitled to be represented throughout the entire criminal process.
All the evidence that Mr Maguire was canvassing was evidence that occurred in the past. They were now in 1996 and the executive must now consider whether or not Gallagher was suffering from any mental disorder warranting continued detention that was in the public and private interests.
What Mr Maguire was seeking to deduce was not clinical evidence. It was evidence which had gone to historical facts. He wanted Gallagher to remain in detention because he feared he might be dangerous if let out.