Garda fears he was ‘pawn’ in McBrearty case
Garda Shaun Barrett told the Morris Tribunal he was sickened by the thought of having a hand in a stitch-up of he successful Raphoe businessman.
The officer said allegations that two men, Mark McConnell and Michael Peoples, went to Sligo at the behest of the McBreartys to threaten a witness in a court case did not ring true.
“They were a bit mad, but there’s nobody that mad,” he said.
“If the allegations are true, then we were used as pawns and I’m very, very annoyed about it.”
Mr McBrearty Jnr was taken to court for breaches of the licensing laws in 1997. It has been alleged gardaí in the town set out to persecute him for after-hours drinking.
The tribunal was told a witness in the case, Bernard Conlon, was brazenly drinking in the bar at 2.55am when gardaí raided the place.
The Silver Bullet module is probing an alleged tangle of lies around the arrest and detention of Raphoe men Mark McConnell and Michael Peoples.
They were accused of threatening Bernard Conlon, the key witness in the after-hours court case, with a silver bullet at a house in Sligo in July 1998.
The opening statement said one of the men told Conlon “there is one for you and one for White” [Sergeant John White].
He and his colleague Garda Noel Keavney told the tribunal these week they had been told by former officer John Dowd to inspect McBrearty’s nightclub on August 31, 1997.
“That didn’t appear to me to be significant,” the officer told the inquiry.
“I’ve been wracking my brains as to how the hell I was tied up in this mess.”
It has been alleged Mr Conlon was told that if he gave evidence in court against the McBreartys over breaches of pub licences, he would get the contents of one of the men’s pockets, meaning bullets.
Statements of the intimidation were made to gardaí which ultimately led to the arrest of Mr McConnell and Mr Peoples. Mr Conlon eventually admitted the complaint was false and said it had been made at the instigation of Sgt White.
He was convicted of making false statements against Mr McConnell and Mr Peoples. Sgt White was cleared of any wrongdoing in a court case.
It is understood Mr Conlon, who will be one of the key witnesses in the module, has given a new statement to tribunal lawyers.
Lawyers for the gardaí will spend the next few days examining the evidence.
