Morris tribunal: A Co Donegal man yesterday said gardaí shouted at and manhandled him during questioning and told him while he was eating chicken during a meal break to think of white brains in postmortem photos they had shown him of cattle-dealer Richie Barron.
Mark Quinn, then a publican in Raphoe, said he was arrested on December 4th, 1996, on suspicion of involvement in the death of Mr Barron, who gardaí said had been murdered. The tribunal later discovered Mr Barron was a hit-and- run victim.
It was alleged there was a row between Mr Barron and another man, Mark McConnell, in Mr Quinn's Town and Country bar on October 13th, 1996. Mr Barron died early the next morning. Mr Quinn said there was no row.
Mr Quinn said that during his interrogation at Letterkenny Garda station, he was shown postmortem photographs of Mr Barron and was shouted at and manhandled.
"After my arrest, the fear I was living under was unbearable," he said yesterday. There were seven to 10 photographs of Mr Barron.
"Some uniformed garda put the photographs out on the table, photos of the deceased, Mr Barron, photos of different parts of his body," he said. Gardaí were shouting and banging the table and asking what had happened to Mr Barron. Somebody came in and said there was a meal break. Mr Quinn said a box of chicken was put on the table. The photographs were still on the table and they said to him to think of white brains while he was eating.
A garda pushed a photograph up to his face, he said. He was taken to a cell. "They said think of what I'd seen while I was eating the chicken."
Mr Quinn became visibly upset and the chairman, Mr Justice Frederick Morris, asked if he would like a break. He replied he was all right. The chairman asked: "What's this about brains?" Mr Quinn said: "They said to me, when you're eating your chicken, think of the white brains I seen in the photographs."
He said Garda John O'Dowd grabbed him by his jacket and pulled him out of the seat with one hand and seemed to reach for his baton with the other. He felt threatened.
Det Garda PJ Keating later pulled him up from the table. He said: "Tell me what you know, you murdering bastard." He saw Det Garda Keating had bullets in his other hand and was shaking them. Then he saw a gun on the table and it was pointed in his direction. It was not loaded but he was very frightened.
Mr Quinn later sold his pub. He is suing the State alleging harassment by gardaí, loss of his business and mistreatment. Det Garda Keating and former garda Mr O'Dowd deny the allegations.