Garda’s evidence clashes with testimony
Garda Seamus Patton and farmer John Patton are in conflict over their memories of a conversation they had following the mystery roadside death of cattle dealer Richie Barron, in Raphoe, Co Donegal, almost seven years ago.
John Patton told the inquiry he spotted Frank McBrearty, junior, in the car park of the Raphoe nightclub his family owns on the night of the death, together with another unidentified man, while insisting he saw nothing suspicious in his behaviour at the time.
But a number of garda officers including Seamus Patton have indicated that John gave them a different version of events, some reporting that Frank McBrearty had seemed excited "as if he had given a man a beating".
Seamus Patton said he went to meet his cousin after being told by a fellow garda, Detective Patrick Tague, that those were John's views of what had happened.
Richie Barron died on October 14, 1996. After firstly working on the hit-and-run accident theory in relation to Mr Barron's death, gardaí later opened a murder inquiry a development that prompted the unfolding of events that helped lead to the establishment of the tribunal.
There were allegations that Frank McBrearty and his cousin Mark McConnell seen as prime suspects by detectives together with their extended family, came in for "gross harassment" and mistreatment from the gardaí, and civil court cases are still being pursued about those claims.
The tribunal has heard that Mr Barron died as he walked home after spending the night before his death drinking, and that his blood-alcohol level was far in excess of that permitted for driving.
Pathologists have said the probable reason for the death was a motor accident, and the inquest produced an open verdict.
The current inquiry is examining in detail how the Barron death was investigated, including claims that garda officers were late arriving at the scene of the incident, and failed properly to preserve the scene after the discovery of the body, as well as their reasons for regarding the two cousins as murder suspects and other apparent flaws in the garda operation.
