Mr Frank McBrearty jnr has said an alleged confession he made on December 4th, 1996, was not created until after he was released from custody by gardaí seeking to frame him for the murder of Raphoe cattle dealer Mr Richie Barron.
Mr McBrearty cross-examined Supt John J. Fitzgerald, who said he had seen the statement on the day he was arrested, December 4th, 1996. Mr McBrearty said there was no confession, and this explained why the DPP was not contacted.
Mr McBrearty said the evidence of expert Garda witness Chief Supt William Keane, was that the DPP would be contacted for a direction immediately an admission was obtained. Gardaí released Mr McBrearty from custody without charge on the night of the alleged confession.
"The position is this. Chief Supt Keane has told us that the correct step to take would be to inform the DPP. You say that you disagree with that, that in this case that wasn't the correct step to take. Is that right? Mr Justice Frederick Morris asked Supt Fitzgerald.
The superintendent said he was not disagreeing with Chief Supt Keane.
"Well then why did you not, as Mr McBrearty says, keep trying until you got someone?" asked the judge.
"Well amn't I only ringing them as a matter of etiquette," said Supt Fitzgerald.
He said he tried to contact the DPP but had not got through. He said he did not sense there was anything wrong with the statement at the time, but there was still a lot of work to do. "With regards to seeking a charge or anything like that, it was a long long way from that."
Earlier, Mr Mark McConnell, who was also arrested as a suspect, said that if a witness who saw him in a cafe had been properly followed up, he would have been eliminated as a suspect in the early days of the investigation.
Mr McConnell referred to the statement of Ms Wilma Laird, who told gardaí she saw him in a cafe at 1.20 a.m. Two workers in the cafe had said they saw Mr McConnell around 12.30 a.m.
Mr McConnell said that Ms Laird, who lived in Northern Ireland, spoke to a garda by phone two weeks after Mr Barron's death, but was not asked to make a statement until 13 months later. The cafe workers last year told the tribunal they realised they were mistaken about the time they saw Mr McConnell in light of Ms Laird's recollection.
The later time supports Mr McConnell's own statement, and that of other witnesses, who say he did not leave Quinn's pub and go to the cafe until after 1 a.m. Mr Barron was found before 1 a.m. lying on the roadside.
Mr McConnell asked why the information Ms Laird gave the garda who phoned her was not followed up.
"It would have ruled me out, your honour," he told Mr Justice Morris.
Mr McBrearty jnr also asked that Insp Patrick Nyham be reinterviewed about phone records "illegally obtained" during the investigation.