Tribunal told of car journey on night of Barron death
A young Donegal woman today described the movements of her boyfriend’s car to the Morris Tribunal today on the night local cattle dealer Richie Barron was killed.
Amanda Sloyan gave evidence which contradicted previous accounts of the night, but was adamant she was not lying.
She had been out with her boyfriend William Ayton in Letterkenny.
William had borrowed his mother’s car and they had taken a long route back home to Raphoe so as to avoid gardaí because he had no insurance, she said.
On the way the old red Vauxhall Cavalier had “just conked out” and the couple left the car at the side of the road and began walking, she said.
The 25-year-old told the tribunal that a few minutes later they were picked up by a friend, Paul Kilpatrick, who she has known most of her life.
But Mr Kilpatrick claims he did not pick them up that night and had no recollection of giving Ms Sloyan a lift.
“I don’t know why he would lie,” she said. “Maybe he was drinking and didn’t want to be found out.”
Ms Sloyan claimed at that point she was not aware of Richie Barron’s death, although Mr Kilpatrick claims that at that time he knew of the incident.
They had gone back to the Ayton’s house, where she was told what had happened, she said.
A group had then gone out in a family friend’s car to tow William’s mother’s car back home.
Kathleen Ayton, Williams mother, has told the tribunal that on the night Richie Barron died, her son had returned home without her car, which he said had run out of petrol.
She went to bed but said she believed it had been towed home later that night. After an accident in 1997, the car was never driven again.
The inquiry was set up to look into the Garda murder investigation following Mr Barron’s death on October 14, 1996 in an apparent hit-and-run in Raphoe, Co Donegal.
An investigation, headed by the Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty, was then launched in 1999 after the McBrearty family alleged they had been harassed by local gardaí during the investigation.
