Woman ‘begged gardaí to stop cousin’s mistreatment’

A WOMAN begged with gardaí to stop the mistreatment of her cousin in custody, the Morris Tribunal heard yesterday.

Charlotte Peoples, 37, said she could hear her cousin Róisín McConnell being called a “lying bitch” by officers in the adjoining interview room in Letterkenny Garda Station.

“I thought they had done something to her. I was pleading with them to go in and stop what they were doing next door,” she said.

Ms Peoples, from Raphoe, Co Donegal, said when she made her request to the two gardaí interviewing her, Sergeant Michael Caroll and Detective Garda Michael Jennings, they failed to act.

“I thought it was their duty when they knew what was going on next door, they should have gone in and stopped it. To me, it was a form of mental torture with me, maybe they thought they would have broke me.”

Ms Peoples and her husband Michael were among 12 people arrested for questioning on December 4, 1996, about the death of cattle dealer Richie Barron.

In her case, gardaí wanted to know about a phone call made to Letterkenny General Hospital by her mother, enquiring about Mr Barron’s condition.

Ms Peoples said when she heard the roaring from the interview room next door, she started to cry.

The tribunal heard that Sgt Carroll and Det Gda Jennings reassured her she would be treated with respect and did not shout at her. Both gardaí deny she asked them to intervene in the interview next door.

At the tribunal she also said the gardaí had asked her during the interview if she was having an affair.

“They just made me feel so dirty, that they thought I was having an affair with somebody. To me, they were just trying to degrade me.”

She had been arrested at Raphoe Garda Station after inquiring about her husband Michael, who was arrested that day. She was released without charge 12 hours later but had to be treated for depression after the arrest.