Third day of Sheenagh McMahon’s testimony
The 42-year-old estranged wife of detective Noel McMahon and mother-of-three, was in the witness box at the garda corruption probe for a third successive day. She rejected suggestions that a number of plastic bags at her home, which she claimed she was told contained bomb parts, actually held second-hand clothing gifts for her three children.
She also dismissed a newspaper report that she had been a mental patient, and expressed anger at the claim that she was a lesbian, which was made by Garda Alison Teape, who is now in a relationship with her estranged husband.
Mrs McMahon had previously told the tribunal that Noel McMahon and currently-suspended Superintendent Kevin Lennon let IRA informer Adrienne McGlinchey carry a bomb into Strabane a decade ago. She insisted that she knew nothing of those allegations before hearing them from retired garda sergeant Des Walsh.
She also told the investigation of her conviction that the Strabane bombing and other incidents had been a garda operation, considered necessary to protect Ms McGlinchey in case the IRA "copped on" to her activities as an informant.
Ms McMahon further said that she had believed at the time that what went on was done in order to save lives because she had been told that by Noel and that she was shocked when she discovered it had been done only "for the self-gain and promotion" of her husband and Superintendent Lennon.
Yesterday she was questioned about her relationships with some of the figures central to her claims by Brian Murphy, counsel for Noel McMahon.
Asked about Garda Alison Teape, who last week confirmed that she was now having a relationship with Noel McMahon, Mrs McMahon said: "I am quite happy with Noel and Alison Teape. It is their life.
"I only felt cross with her (Alison) when she suggested I was a lesbian, and had made a pass at her."
She also refuted a newspaper report that she had been "a mental patient who made wild allegations."
Ms McMahon was questioned at length about the time her husband told her that plastic bags in the garage of their home contained a bomb, but assured her it was not assembled.
Mr Murphy suggested that in reality Noel had said that the bags contained clothing from the Lennon family for their three young sons, and that there had been a misunderstanding.
But Mrs McMahon told the tribunal: "I was very frightened it could have damaged the house.
"It was not true about the clothing. I never got any hand-me-down clothes. It is the strangest idea, and the wildest story I ever heard."
Mr Murphy claimed at the tribunal Mrs McMahon had become "mixed up" about the sequence of events on and around the Border.
He also said Noel McMahon would deny claims that he pointed a gun at his wife and threatened to "blow her brains out," and that in fact she had threatened him with a shotgun.
