Gardaí request further day to consider Barr ultimatum

A legal representative for the gardaí involved in the shooting of John Carthy in Abbeylara four years ago has requested a further day to consider an ultimatum issued to his clients yesterday by the chairman of the Barr Tribunal.

Justice Robert Barr warned that they had no right to cease co-operating with the tribunal could be summoned to give evidence individually if they failed to attend with their legal representatives.

The gardaí had previously threatened to withdraw co-operation from the inquiry due to a row between their senior counsel, John Rodgers, and Justice Barr. Yesterday, Justice Barr attempted to defuse the situation by saying he regretted the row and may have been unfair in accusing Mr Rodgers of attempting to bully him.

Meanwhile, in evidence today, State Pathologist John Harbison rejected suggestions that Mr Carthy may have been struck by a fifth bullet when he was shot dead by gardaí in April 2000.

The row between Mr Rodgers and Justice Barr was sparked by the judge’s suggestion that a fifth bullet fired by a garda who was not a member of the Emergency Response Unit may have struck the 27-year-old.

However, Dr Harbison, who carried out the post mortem on Mr Carthy’s body, ruled out this theory today. Another pathologist, Professor Christopher Molloy, who is also being cross-examined today, had already stated that the medical evidence did not support the fifth bullet theory.