Three protected witnesses in the Veronica Guerin murder investigation are detained under the "most onerous" conditions in the State, a senior Department of Justice official told the Special Criminal Court yesterday.
Mr Ruairi Gogan, principal officer in the Prisons Division, said that Charles Bowden, Russell Warren and John Dunne were held in restrictive conditions at Arbour Hill Prison. He said that only prisoners under punishment would be held in more onerous conditions, and then only for a short period.
Bowden, Warren and Dunne have already given evidence for the State in the trial of Mr Brian Meehan, accused of murdering the journalist Veronica Guerin.
It was the 24th day of the trial of Mr Meehan (34), of no fixed abode and formerly of Clifton Court, Dublin, and Stannaway Road, Crumlin, Dublin. He has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Guerin at Naas Road, Clondalkin, Co Dublin, on June 26th, 1996.
Mr Meehan also denies 16 other charges alleging that he unlawfully imported cannabis resin into the State on various dates between July 1st, 1994, and October 6th, 1996, that he unlawfully possessed cannabis resin for the purpose of sale or supply on the same dates, and that on or about October 3rd, 1996, at Unit 1B, Greenmount Industrial Estate, Harold's Cross, Dublin, he had cannabis resin for sale or supply.
He has also pleaded not guilty to having a Sten sub-machinegun, a silenced barrel, two magazines, a 9mm Agram machine pistol, five Walther semi-automatic pistols, four magazines and 1,057 rounds of assorted ammunition with intent to endanger life at Oldcourt Road, Tallaght, Dublin, between November 10th, 1995, and October 3rd, 1996.
Mr Gogan told the court that he had reinstated words in a memo written by another Department of Justice official referring to Bowden and Warren because he wanted the defence team to have a full disclosure of the document.
Mr Michael Mellett, Assistant Secretary at the Department of Justice, said that he had deleted words from a memo prepared by Michael O'Neill concerning Bowden and Warren because he thought the words were irrelevant and ambiguous.
Mr Michael O'Neill, assistant principal officer at the Department of Justice, said he had prepared a memo about a meeting held in Arbour Hill Prison on October 13th, 1998, attended by himself, the prison governor and two personnel from the witness protection programme.
He said it was agreed to give six daytime temporary releases to Bowden and Warren over a 12-month period. After he gave the memo to Mr Mellett it was returned with a line through the words "and would be dependent on their performance in court".
Mr O'Neill admitted that after getting back the memo he had crossed out the words with a Biro, but that they were still legible. He denied a suggestion by Mr John McCrudden QC, for Mr Meehan, that there was "a co-ordinated attempt to keep these prisoners in a position where they got the clear message that their conditions relating to overnight release were conditional on how they performed in court."
"At no stage during that meeting or after that meeting was it suggested that these prisoners would be rewarded depending on the evidence they would give," he said.
Earlier the court admitted evidence relating to mobile phones gathered by gardai from Eircell. The defence had submitted that the gardai had not followed lawful procedure in obtaining the information and that Mr Meehan's constitutional right to privacy had been interfered with.
The trial continues today.