ARREST OF MARK McCONNELL:THE TRIBUNAL found that Mark McConnell, the husband of Roisin McConnell and cousin of Frank McBrearty jnr, was arrested three times between 1996 and 1998 in relation to offences he did not commit.
While arrested, he was verbally and physically abused and no proper notes were kept of interviews. The first arrest and detention, on suspicion of the murder of Ritchie Barron, took place on December 4th 1996, the second, for the same offence, on January 25th 1997 and the third, on suspicion of possessing ammunition (the alleged "silver bullet") at the home of Bernard Conlon, took place on October 1st 1998.
His wife was also arrested in 1996. The tribunal concluded that the first arrest was unlawful, as it was based on a false statement procured by Garda John O'Dowd.
On his arrest on December 4th 1996, Mr McConnell was taken to Letterkenny Garda station, where he was interviewed for about 12 hours and released.
His second arrest followed the alleged statement of admission of Frank McBrearty jnr, and again he was questioned for about 12 hours.
During his first interview, he gave an account of his movements to his solicitor, who advised him to make no further statement and sign nothing. He said he was abused during the first interview.
He spoke to his solicitor on the phone, and complained about being abused. His solicitor came to the garda station and asked to speak to him, but was not allowed on the basis that he had already had access.
The interviewing gardaí denied this, but the tribunal said it was satisfied that the events as described support Mr McConnell's allegation that he was assaulted by being pushed.
The tribunal found that the complaint of assault was treated dismissively by the custody officer, Garda Martin Leonard.
A third interview was then undertaken by the same team as the first. The tribunal said that "the non-taking of notes during the entire period of this interview is consistent with the account given by Mr McConnell that it was conducted in a verbally aggressive manner."
He said that during a fourth interview, he was shown photographs of Ritchie Barron's post-mortem while being interviewed by Garda Tague. This was denied by the gardaí involved, but accepted by the tribunal.
The second arrest was to put to him an alleged admission from Frank McBrearty jnr of the murder of Ritchie Barron.
Mr McConnell claimed, and the tribunal accepted, that a false statement of admission attributed to Frank McBrearty was read out to him. The tribunal said it was with a view to "cajoling or tricking him into making some admission".
The tribunal also accepted that Inspector McGinley had been practising the signature of Frank McBrearty jnr, for the purpose of producing this document.
Mr McConnell was arrested a third time in connection with the false claim by Bernard Conlon that he and Michael Peoples had threatened him with a "silver bullet" in connection with his allegations of late-night drinking in the McBreartys' nightclub.
The tribunal found that the core of Mr McConnell's account to be true, though it considered some matters to be mistaken, exaggerated or untrue. This was attributed to passage of time.