A prosecution witness was jailed for contempt of court and two others declared hostile at the Special Criminal Court trial yesterday of four men accused of the capital murder of Det Garda Jerry McCabe.
Mr Patrick Harty (52), an unmarried farmer, from Toomevara, Co Tipperary, was committed to Mountjoy Prison after he refused to give evidence when the trial resumed yesterday.
Mr Patrick Walsh and Ms Sally Walsh, father and sister of one of the defendants, Mr Kevin Walsh, were declared hostile witnesses after they repeatedly told the court they could not recall the events of June 6th, 1996, the night before the McCabe killing.
Ms Sally Walsh said she could not recall making a statement to gardai in which she identified the four defendants as having been in her house at Patrickswell, Co Limerick, the night before the murder, when rifles and other firearms were there.
It was the sixth day of the trial of four men accused of the capital murder of Det Garda McCabe (52), during an abortive post office van robbery at Adare in Co Limerick on June 7th, 1996.
Conviction carries a mandatory sentence of 40 years' imprisonment.
A fifth man also denies charges connected with the murder and an attempted post office van robbery. The four men facing capital murder charges are Mr Pearse McCauley (34), from Strabane, Co Tyrone, with no fixed address; and three Co Limerick men, Mr Jeremiah Sheehy (36), Abbey Park, Rathkeale; Mr Michael O'Neill (46), Lisheen Park, Patrickswell; and Mr Kevin Walsh (42), also of Lisheen Park.
Mr O'Neill, Mr Jeremiah Sheehy, Mr McCauley and Mr Walsh plead not guilty to the capital murder and the attempted murder of his colleague, Det Garda Ben O'Sullivan, on the same date. They also deny having firearms with intent to endanger life at Adare on June 7th, 1996; conspiracy to commit a robbery in Adare between June 5th and 8th, 1996; and possession of assorted ammunition with intent to endanger life at Adare on June 7th, 1996.
The four also plead not guilty of the unlawful possession of two rifles, a handgun and shotgun at Clonolea, Toomevara, Nenagh, Co Tipperary, on June 7th, 1996, and possession of three shotgun cartridges at Clonolea on the same date. Mr John Quinn (30), Faha, Patrickswell, denies the unlawful possession of ammunition at Patrickswell on June 6th, 1996, and conspiring with others between June 5th and 8th, 1996, to commit a robbery at Adare.
Mr Patrick Harty was called by the prosecution but refused to take the oath and told the three judges he could not take part in the case.
Mr Justice Johnson, presiding, told him he had been summoned to appear as a State witness, had a duty to give evidence and would be in contempt of court if he refused. After a short adjournment to allow Mr Harty to consult his solicitor, he was again called to the witness box and again told the judges in a low voice: "I am very sorry, I can't."
Prosecuting counsel Mr Edward Comyn SC asked the court to postpone dealing with the matter for 24 hours.
Mr Justice Johnson , presiding, told Mr Harty he was in contempt of court and ordered his committal to Mountjoy prison until this morning, when the court would deal with the issue.
Ms Sally Walsh, of Lurriga, Patrickswell, told the court she was a sister of the defendant, Mr Kevin Walsh. She said no one had called to her house on the night of June 6th, 1996, and that she did not remember seeing guns in the house.
Mr Comyn applied to the court to declare Ms Walsh a hostile witness and for permission to cross-examine her after she repeatedly said that she could not recall the events of that night. Counsel called Garda evidence that Ms Walsh had made a statement about events to gardai.
Insp James Browne told the court he and Det Sgt Dan Haugh spoke to Ms Walsh in her house on May 22nd, 1997. He said she made a statement which she did not sign. In the statement Ms Walsh said a number of men arrived at her house at different times on the night of June 6th, 1996.
She said she saw Gerry Roche, whom she had known for a number of years through Sinn Fein. She also saw Jerry Sheehy sitting at the table. Her brother, Kevin, and Mike O'Neill were also in the house and she said she felt they were "imposing on us".
Ms Walsh said she saw a bag on the ground near the window and four rifles with magazines. She said Mike O'Neill cleaned the guns. She also saw a tall man with reddish hair who spoke with a Northern accent and whom the other lads called Pearse.
She saw a jeep in the yard during the night. She went to bed around 2 a.m. "I had a very bad feeling that something bad was going to happen." Ms Walsh also was said to have told gardai she saw "a lot of shorts" in the house and added that by shorts she meant small guns [pistols]. She also saw a sawn-off double-barrelled shotgun.
When Ms Walsh was recalled she agreed with Mr Comyn that she knew Insp Browne but she could not recall making a statement to him.
She added: "Some people say I live in my own world. I have been threatened. I have been very ill for the past few years and I can't recall if I did say anything." She said she did not know why she was in court and added that she should not be there. She said she had been threatened by gardai.
Her father, Mr Patrick Walsh, was also declared a hostile witness after he told the court he could not recall making a written statement to gardai or making a sketch for them showing the position of vehicles in his yard that night.
Insp Browne said Mr Walsh had corrected the statement after it was written, and had signed it. When Mr Walsh was recalled and shown the statement, he denied it was his signature. He told the court: "My memory is not great."
The trial continues today.