McBrearty ‘made murder confession involuntarily’
The senior officer said he was afraid of the “consequences” if he informed the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) that he felt the statement concerning Richie Barron’s death was improperly obtained by gardaí.
The tribunal heard he did not mention any concerns in a report to the DPP.
“When I signed that report in March 1998 I said to my incident room staff, ‘today I signed away my job, I signed away my life’. And that’s the fact,” he said.
Supt Lennon was not working at Donegal’s Letterkenny Garda Station at the time that one of the suspects, Frank McBrearty Jnr, made an alleged statement of confession to gardaí on December 4, 1996 taking responsibility for the death. Mr McBrearty has always claimed the statement was false.
However, Supt Lennon, who was transferred to the district in February 1997, said he went to the state solicitor for Donegal in September of that year.
He added: “I brought my views about the statement of confession, the alleged statement of confession, to his notice, and discussed it in detail.”
“Are you saying that he voluntarily told a story that was wrong, or that he did not voluntarily make a statement at all?” Judge Frederick Morris said.
Supt Lennon replied: “Yes, I’m saying he did not voluntarily make a statement.”
Judge Morris asked Supt Lennon if it was one of the reasons behind him not recommending a prosecution to the DPP.
“No, Sir. It wasn’t,” he said. “I was afraid, if I went that route, of the consequences.”
Supt Joseph Shelly, who was on the witness stand, said it was “nothing short of extraordinary” that Supt Lennon was claiming to have had these worries since the September of the previous year.
“There was no reference or comments made or anything written ever in relation to these concerns,” he said.
Earlier, Judge Frederick Morris said that time would be lost if he issued a report on the current witness module which deals only with the broad Garda investigation into the death of Donegal cattle dealer Richie Barron in October 1996 in a suspected hit-and-run.
The chairman said he would issue his next report after the module dealing with the arrest and detention of suspects, which would probably mean next autumn at the earliest.
As Supt Shelley returned to the witness stand for the twelfth day, Judge Morris said he was concerned at the length of time it was taking to gather the relevant evidence.
“I am conscious of the fact that it is not fair on the witnesses to be here day after day after day,” he said, stressing he was not directing any comments at Mr McBrearty jnr.
He said it was not acceptable for people to read out large chunks of tribunal documentation without asking a relevant question.
“We must revise the way in which we are proceeding. I don’t believe that the public would tolerate what is happening here and I am certainly not going to tolerate it,” he warned.
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