Morris: Gardaí 'tarnished pub prosecution by planting witness'

Some Co Donegal gardaí tarnished after-hours drinking prosecutions against a Raphoe publican by planting a found-on in the pub, the Morris Tribunal heard today.

Local officers issued a total of 89 summonses against Frankie’s Bar and Nightclub between October 1996 and September 1998.

They were later dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions in 2000.

Chief Supt Austin McNally, a senior officer in the Carty investigation team, today told the tribunal that local gardaí had acted unfairly against the McBrearty family owners by planting petty criminal Bernard Conlon in Frankie’s Nightclub on August 31, 1997.

Mr Conlon was told by officers to have a number of pints of beer in front of him when the premises was raided by officers after closing time on that date.

“It was obvious, and our view from as early as August 1999, was that some gardaí may have employed unfair procedures in relation to these prosecutions, and our subsequent investigation showed that,” Chief Supt McNally said.

“From our point of view there seemed to be an inordinate amount of prosecutions over such a short period if you look at the position before or even since.”

“It was the actions of certain members of An Garda Siochana that tarnished the prosecutions,” he added.

The Carty team of investigators was sent into the Co Donegal garda division in 1999 after corruption allegations emerged against local officers.

All district court charges under the Liquor Licensing Act against the McBrearty family were subsequently withdrawn by the DPP in June 2000.

Several members of the extended McBrearty family were suspects in the hit-and-run death of Raphoe cattle dealer Richie Barron in October 1996.

Chief Supt McNally also told tribunal chairman Justice Frederick Morris today that many serious allegations by Frank McBrearty Jnr proved to be true.

“When we look back, we have to say that a lot of allegations Mr McBrearty was making have plenty of foundation … and that was subsequently proved and shown in various ways.”

The witness was speaking during cross-examination by sacked Letterkenny superintendent Kevin Lennon.

Earlier Mr Lennon claimed Mr Conlon was planted on the McBrearty premises to act as a State witness in the after-hours drinking case against the McBreartys without his [Mr Lennon’s] knowledge or consent.

The tribunal, which is probing allegations of garda corruption in Co Donegal in the 1990s, today heard its seventh week of evidence on the ‘silver bullet’ module.

Supt John J Fitzgerald, who was superintendent in Letterkenny for the first four months of the Barron investigation, explained the significance of the ’silver bullet’ allegations.

“Two people called to Conlon’s home and threatened him that if he gave evidence in the McBrearty pub case, that he would be killed and that a [silver] bullet was produced,” he said.

It has been alleged that gardaí coaxed Mr Conlon into making up the ’silver bullet’ story as part of a campaign of harassment and intimidation against the extended McBrearty family.

Evidence at the tribunal concluded today until after the summer recess on September 19.