A MAN who has served 26 years of a 40-year sentence imposed for the murder of a Garda sergeant told the High Court yesterday he greatly regretted his involvement in the incident and the wrong he did to the garda’s family.
Noel Callan (48) said his role in the murder of Sgt Patrick Morrissey was “very shameful” and it was a “horrific” event. He said he was very remorseful over his role and over what happened to the garda’s family.
He was giving evidence in his proceedings against the State in which he wants the court to find that his rights under the Constitution and European Convention on Human Rights have been breached over the way in which his sentence was imposed in 1986.
A death sentence imposed on Callan was commuted in 1986 by then president Patrick Hillery to 40 years imprisonment on the advice of the government. Callan claims the executive unlawfully took on the role of the courts in deciding what sentence should be imposed. The courts could only have imposed a life sentence and not 40 years, he also claims.
In these circumstances, Callan claims he has been deprived of his right to remission for good behaviour, which would have reduced his sentence by a quarter.
The sentence was imposed without regard to his particular level of culpability for the offences or his prospects for rehabilitation and where there was no right to be considered for parole, early release or review, he claims.
Callan told Mr Justice Michael Hanna yesterday he had written to politicians about his position. He said Fine Gael’s Seymour Crawford and John Bruton, and Fianna Fáil’s Rory O’Hanlon had unsuccessfully made representations over the years to get temporary release for him.
He recalled the events of June 27th, 1985, which led to him and a co-accused, Michael McHugh, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh, being convicted by the non-jury Special Criminal Court of the capital murder of Sgt Morrissey (49). Death sentences on both were commuted to 40 years penal servitude.
The court heard the pair carried out an armed robbery at Ardee labour exchange. Following a chase, Sgt Morrissey was shot in the leg by McHugh as they made their way up the driveway of a house after their getaway motorbike crashed. McHugh then went up to the injured garda and shot him again in what was an “effective execution”, Deirdre Murphy SC, for Callan, said.
Callan had denied the charges at his original trial, particularly, he said, because he was under duress from McHugh while being held in what was a “very oppressive” environment in Portlaoise.
He told the court he accepted his “role in the events of that day”. “They were horrific events which I greatly regret and I am remorseful for what happened to the Morrissey family and to Sgt Morrissey.”
He told the court his parents had died by the time he was 18 and he had never been in trouble before he met McHugh.
McHugh got the guns for the robbery and they approached the labour exchange manager, but cash could not be located, Callan said. They drove away in the manager’s car and switched to a motorbike they had hidden for their getaway, but they came to a Garda checkpoint and the bike was involved in a head-on crash.
He started making his way up the driveway of a nearby house. He had suffered hand, head and knee injuries. He subsequently heard two shots. He only learned of what happened from medical staff after he was taken to hospital for his injuries.
Asked by Ms Murphy about the “sentence the Morrissey family have served”, he said: “What happened that day was a great horror – a great wrong was done to Sgt Morrissey and his widow and to his friends. I greatly regret being involved in the events that led up to his death.”
Callan will be cross-examined today by counsel for the State.