Shopkeeper: Male stranger was not Ian Bailey

Shopkeeper Marie Farrell yesterday told the High Court she saw a male stranger on the road between Goleen and Schull at about 2am on December 23, 1996, hours before the body of Sophie Toscan du Plantier was found near Toormore, Schull.

Ms Farrell said she had seen the same man standing across the road from her shop in Schull the previous Saturday afternoon, December 21, when a woman she now knew was Ms Toscan du Plantier was browsing inside.

She did not know the man but he was “not Ian Bailey”. He “stood out as being a stranger”, was slim, with sallow skin, about 5ft 8in, and wore a beret and long black coat with silver buttons.

Ms Toscan du Plantier left the shop, turned right, and, a minute or two later, the man crossed the road and walked in the same direction as her, Ms Farrell said.

She said she saw the man at about 7am the next day, December 22, walking out of Schull when she was driving from Schull into Cork. She saw him a third time at about 2am when she was in a car being driven by a friend towards Schull from Goleen.

Ms Farrell began her evidence yesterday afternoon, the 14th day of a civil action by Ian Bailey against the Garda Commissioner and State who deny his claims, including of wrongful arrest arising from the investigation into the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier.

Ms Farrell said she and her husband Chris are from Longford but moved to Schull in 1995 with their five children. When they sought to sell knitwear from a market stall in Schull, Garda Kevin Kelleher told them they could not. However, she told him they could legally do so as they made the knitwear themselves. Someone else who owned a clothes shop in Schull had complained about them trading there, she added.

Her husband was later stopped by Garda Kelleher who asked him to produce his insurance, which he did, but a week later, they got a call from their insurance company. Her husband’s declared business was butcher, and he was a butcher, but because he was also using the vehicle for casual trading, his insurance was cancelled and a prosecution ensued. He was stopped in Millstreet around the same time and a second prosecution was taken, she said.

As a result, they decided to rent a shop in Schull selling knitwear and clothing; they later opened a coffee shop and ice-cream parlour and kept a market stall in Cork City, working alternate days in Cork and Schull in the run-up to Christmas 1996.

When in Cork on December 22, she met a male friend from Longford at 10pm. They drove to Goleen and headed towards Schull about 2am when she saw the same man as she had seen outside her shop.

The man appeared to be staggering along the road and wore the same black coat, she said. After learning of the murder, she rang gardaí on Christmas morning and told them about seeing the man on December 21 and the next morning.

The case continues.