Garda defends release of 'murder suspect'

A senior garda in charge of the botched investigation into the death of a cattle dealer today defended his decision to release then murder suspect Frank McBrearty Jnr despite an alleged confession.

Superintendent John J Fitzgerald told the Morris Tribunal he was “going nowhere” with one short statement.

“What we had was an alleged statement to the effect he was annoyed and that himself and Mark McConnell (his cousin) went up and hit the deceased with a few slaps of a stick,” he said.

“That’s what we had and where would we be going without further proper corroboration and facts?

"We would be going nowhere.”

Asked whether he had ever heard of arrest for assault, Supt Fitzgerald claimed this was a “much broader issue” than an assault charge.

Mr McBrearty was arrested in connection with the death of Richie Barron eight years ago and his family’s claims of Garda harassment led to the founding of the tribunal.

He has always vehemently claimed that the alleged statement was fabricated.

Supt Fitzgerald said he had not sent a file to the DPP as he had intended to make further arrests, that it was “premature” and would have got him nowhere.

He accused shamed Superintendent Kevin Lennon, as incoming district officer, of not doing enough work on the case, claiming that if he had investigations would not have been continuing one year on.

He said the former superintendent’s debrief on the investigation was “totally lopsided” and did not fairly address all of the issues such as informants, extortion calls, false witnesses and false statements.

“Was it not done in such a way that you were Mr Wonderful and everybody else that went before you were fools?” he asked Mr Lennon.

He said he “disagreed entirely” with the presentation and the reasoning behind the document.

Supt Fitzgerald told the tribunal the whole area of the scene of Mr Barron’s apparent hit-and-run accident on October 14, 1996 was a “disaster”.

He said Garda James McDwyer had not stated that human flesh and hair was found on the roadway until three days later.

“This was a hit-and-run accident and we are talking about murder weapons,” he said. “We all appreciate things were not right at the scene.”

Garda John O’Dowd claims he told Mr Lennon of an extortion call made from his house in November 1996 within a few days.

But Mr Lennon claimed he was not told about the call until June 1997. “For eight years long Gda O’Dowd has lied and lied to me about this affair. It’s as simple as that,” he said.

Justice Morris asked the Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy to write to the McBrearty family confirming they were no longer considered suspects within the Garda computer system.

He said the name had already been withdrawn from the system but it was a “fair request” to have that confirmed in writing.