A Galway man accused of murder was repeatedly told by gardai that he was a homosexual and had been engaged in a homosexual act with his uncle when the man died, defence counsel said before a jury in the Central Criminal Court yesterday. "You believed it to be a sexual crime and you were putting it to him he'd had sex with his uncle," counsel suggested to a detective sergeant in court.
Mr Patrick Joseph (P.J.) McGreene (29), with addresses at Corrib Park and St Mary's Road, Galway, has denied the murder of his uncle, Mr Tom Clisham (53) between November 24th and December 4th, 1997, at Inveran, Co. Galway.
Cross-examining Det Sgt Patrick Lynam, defence counsel Mr John Rogers SC said that because of how the man's body had been found it was believed it had been a sexual crime. Mr Rogers asked him if it had been put to the accused that he was a homosexual engaged in a sexual act that had "gone wrong".
Det Sgt Lynam denied that either he or a colleague had alleged that Mr McGreene was gay.
Mr Rogers asked: "Why did he say `I am not a homosexual' " in an alleged memo given to gardai on December 8th, 1997, in connection with Mr Clisham's death.
Det Sgt Lynam told the court the accused was invited to make a written statement, but declined to do so. He said Mr McGreene gave answers to questions put by himself and another guard in Salthill Garda station, which formed a memo, unsigned by the accused, which had been previously read out in court.
The memo allegedly given to gardai by the accused denied that he had had sex with Mr Clisham, and said he would "give blood" to prove that. Referring to notes allegedly given to gardai by a previous witness, Mr Rogers asked which of those were handed to the accused while he was in custody.
Mr Michael Folan, otherwise known as Mike Phid, allegedly gave gardai three statements or collections of notes during questioning, but only some of those were made available to the accused, the defence alleges.
Asked if there was "no mention of Mr McGreene tying Tom Clisham's hands", Det Sgt Lynam answered: "I'm not certain which statement was read out."
Defence counsel asked if he remembered a statement read to Mr McGreene with reference to Mr McGreene "jumping on Mr Clisham".
"I can't recall exactly what was read out to him," he replied. After agreeing that only one of the three statements allegedly made by Mr Folan was given to the accused, Mr Rogers asked Det Sgt Lynam if he thought it "fair" to read out just one statement.
"You introduced the idea of Folan's statement?" Mr Rogers asked. "Yes," Det Sgt Lynam replied.
"I put it to you that you found yourselves on Monday morning with the permissible detention period nearly run out and no self-incriminating statements." "Mr Folan was brought to the interview room at the accused's request," Det Sgt Lynam said. "I told him he had made a statement implicating him in it."
Mr Rogers asked if bringing an accuser into a Garda station where the accused was a "method used to interview people who are suspects".
Mentioning that Det Sgt Lynam had been brought from Galway to interview Paul Ward about the Veronica Guerin murder, Mr Rogers asked: "Is that the way interviews are conducted?"
"The accused asked to see him," Det Sgt Lynam said.
"Whether he asked or not, you're the man in charge," Mr Rogers said. "This was a man bringing an accusation of murder, isn't that right?
"I think you'll agree it was all a bad idea, wouldn't you?" He put it to Det Sgt Lynam that seeing Mr Folan was not a request the accused had made but rather "the gambit to crack the case".
The court previously heard that Mr Clisham was found dead in his home wearing only socks, with his hands loosely bound. Domestic pets or rodents had eaten at the flesh of the body.
The trial continues today.