‘I thought I was going to be killed’

FRANK McBrearty jnr revealed last night he pleaded with God to take his life as he lay shivering and traumatised in a garda cell.

Shocking video footage, filmed by a member of the gardaí and obtained by TV3 News, showed the young Donegal man being dragged by two officers along the floor of Raphoe garda station.

However, Mr McBrearty claimed last night that a garda source told him the video had been edited and "worse things had happened".

He said last night: "I was burned by cigarettes and a garda walked on my back and head. That was taken out of the video."

At the time the video was shot in February 1997, Mr McBrearty had been arrested in relation to an assault on Edward Moss, of which he was later cleared by a circuit court jury. The arrest came two months after Mr McBrearty and a cousin, Mark McConnell, had first been questioned by gardaí about the death of cattle dealer Ritchie Barron.

Earlier this week, Justice Minister Michael McDowell condemned the gardaí who had attempted to frame Mr McBrearty and his cousin for the 'murder' of Mr Barron who was actually a victim of a hit and run accident.

Mr McBrearty said: "On February 4 that year, I was arrested on a false pretence of assaulting Mr Moss but it was an attempt by the gardaí to get me to admit to the murder of Ritchie Barron which never happened.

"That video was suppressed from my legal team when we went to court on the charge of assaulting Mr Moss."

"As they were dragging me into the interview room, they were shouting abuse in my ears.

"They were saying to me they no longer needed a confession as they had other evidence ... I prayed to God to take me away from this hell that I was in and that when I was dead my family would have peace of mind."

Mr McBrearty, who obtained a copy of the video six months ago through a High Court discovery, said he still feels traumatised when viewing it. "It's unbelievable," he said. "I became so badly depressed during that period that I was hospitalised twice."

Mr McBrearty also claimed a private conversation with his solicitor was also videotaped by gardaí.

"I believe the video was concealed beneath a coat and, on the video, I can be heard asking my solicitor to get me out of there. I was pleading with him to get me out. I thought I was going to be killed or that I would kill myself."

Last night, Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins MEP described the video footage as truly shocking.