Morris Tribunal: A former Garda superintendent has told the Morris tribunal he was afraid to report to the DPP that he believed an alleged confession to murder was not made voluntarily.
Mr Kevin Lennon also said he had approached the State Solicitor for Donegal and discussed his concerns in September 1997, six months before he sent his report to the DPP.
The alleged statement related to the death of Raphoe cattle dealer Mr Richie Barron in 1996. Publican Mr Frank McBrearty jnr has denied he ever made the statement. Mr Lennon, who was fired by the Government after being found to have planned bogus explosives finds, said he went to the State Solicitor for Donegal in September 1997 and "brought my views about the statement of confession, the alleged statement of confession, to his notice, and discussed it in detail".
"There was none of that brought to my attention," said Supt Joseph Shelly, who was cross-examined by Mr Lennon.
Asked by the chairman if he mentioned his concerns in his report to the DPP in March 1998 where he recommended no prosecution, Mr Lennon said he did not. "I'll tell you why Sir, just to put it straight up to you," Mr Lennon said. "I was afraid if I went that route, the consequences. When I signed that report on the day I signed it in March 1998 I said to my incident room staff, 'today I signed away my job, I signed away my life'. And that's the fact." Supt Shelly, on the stand for the twelfth day, said this was "an extraordinary comment".
"There was no reference made or comments made, anything written ever in relation to these concerns or whatever the superintendent wishes to call them, in these reports in relation to the statement," he told the chairman.
The tribunal also convened in closed session, where Mr Frank McBrearty jnr questioned Supt Joseph Shelly about allegations made against him and his family in C77s, secret forms used to record subversive intelligence. Mr McBrearty told the chairman he wished to challenge Supt Shelly's evidence.