A Raphoe garda related by marriage to the McBrearty family told the tribunal how Frank McBrearty snr phoned him two weeks after the death of local cattle dealer Mr Richie Barron to protest about the treatment of his family. Gerard Cunningham reports.
Garda Pádraig Mulligan said his brother-in-law was married to a member of the McBrearty family, so when the investigation changed from a hit-and-run to a murder inquiry he excused himself from the investigation. "I didn't want to get involved because of that," he said.
"Pádraig, it's terrible what they're doing to my family," Mr McBrearty said when he phoned him.
"I can't get involved. I can't talk about it," Garda Mulligan said he told Mr McBrearty snr.
Mr Frank McBrearty jnr and his cousin, Mr Mark McConnell, became suspects when the Garda investigation into the death of Mr Barron in 1996, initially thought to be a hit-and-run, became a murder inquiry.
Complaints of Garda harassment by the McBrearty family led to an internal Garda inquiry, and eventually to the Morris tribunal.
Garda Mulligan said he went on duty at 8 p.m. on Sunday, October 13th, 1996, and at around 11.20 p.m. Garda John O'Dowd, who was off-duty, called into the station.
Garda O'Dowd had a new car, and they went for "a spin". On the way back to Raphoe, they went to get cigarettes in a pub in Lifford and had a pint each. Back in Raphoe, they learned Mr Barron had been "knocked down", and went to the scene with two guards from Lifford.
The garda said he examined the area and spoke to Garda John Birney of Lifford .
"I said, 'It is unusual, there's no debris here'. I was puzzled." But he did not think it was anything more than a road-traffic accident.
When a call came through that Mr Barron had died, and to collect the deceased's clothing in Letterkenny, "Garda John Birney said there's no point preserving the scene, there's nothing here.
"I'm not blaming John Birney, but from that we decided not to preserve the scene. It was my first scene to go to. It was the wrong decision I took."
Garda Mulligan said that the system had now changed, and today the scene would be preserved, and he would have support available to examine it.
He said it was the responsibility of the communications centre in Letterkenny to contact the superintendent at the time.
"If it was now I would ring myself, or demand he was contacted."
Garda Mulligan attended a post-mortem examination of Mr Barron's remains conducted by Dr Barry the following evening, along with Insp John McGinley.