Garda who abused sisters in interview hoped they wouldn't tell

A suspended Detective Sergeant today said he had hoped two sisters would not tell the Morris Tribunal about the systematic abuse they suffered in custody.

After apologising from the witness box to Katrina Brolly and Roisin McConnell, Det Sgt John White said he had been banking on the pair not giving evidence about the heavy handed interrogation they faced in Letterkenny station.

Earlier he told the inquiry denial and deceit was the easiest response to complaints from the two sisters in 1997.

“To be honest Mr Chairman, I was hoping they were not going to come in,” the suspended officer said.

Det Sgt White suggested he thought Mrs Brolly would follow the path set by the McBrearty family, who have insisted they will no longer co-operate with the tribunal.

Denying that he was playing the odds, Det Sgt White hastily added: “But I was not going to commit perjury.”

He said when push came to shove he would have admitted the psychological torture meted out to the women.

The tribunal heard that up until last Saturday the Det Sgt had constantly denied the sisters were abused – nine years after the allegations were first made.

Even though his former colleague Garda John Dooley admitted the abuse on March 13, Det Sgt White still refused to come clean.

A brief statement issued by the Det Sgt’s lawyer 24 hours after Gda Dooley’s admission asserted: “The allegations involving our client are totally denied.”

But in a shock move, Det Sgt White faxed the tribunal his account of the intimidation the women suffered.

Det Sgt White today said he wanted to apologise to Mrs McConnell and Mrs Brolly, “over the pain and hurt or trauma that they were caused by the interview ... and that I do apologise to the two ladies“.

The Det Sgt went on: “I should have done it initially but my head was in a bit of a fog when I came here first of all.”

The former top detective is facing claims from Mrs McConnell and Mrs Brolly that they suffered systematic psychological torture at the hands of three officers – himself, Garda John Dooley and Gda Joan Gallagher.

Allegations they were called lying bitches, shown graphic post mortem pictures, and that Mrs Brolly had her hair pulled, have been backed up Garda John Dooley.

Det Sgt White admitted stepping outside custody rules set down by An Garda Siochana, but rejected claims of assault.

He claimed it would be easier for him to come to the tribunal and admit Mrs Brolly had her hair pulled.

Mr Justice Frederick Morris, tribunal chairman, interrupted: “I wonder would it.”

Det Sgt White has spent the last nine years denying abusing the women, to a raft of investigators.

But taking the stand for the first time since coming clean, he said he lied purely out of self preservation.

“From my point of view, I looked at the allegations that Roisin McConnell was making against me and the more serious ones of assault and photographs, I just felt that perhaps denying them was the easiest course to take,” he said.

“Not the easiest, but it was all about self preservation, not letting down any of my colleagues and going against the system or culture that was there of denying any allegations where possible.”

Earlier, Gda Joan Gallagher, insisted she could not recall any abuse and adamantly denied any role in it.

Her lawyer, Ken Fogarty, said: “This is a convenient lapse of memory. You have been left isolated by your colleagues, you are the last person denying that this happened in the entire country.”

But Gda Gallagher reiterated: “It would have been an awful lot easier for me to come and say that I did it.”