Garda denies suspect was manhandled during arrest

A Garda sergeant today denied a suspect was violently manhandled during his arrest by being pulled from his car and thrown across the bonnet.

Mark Quinn, who was arrested in December 1996 by gardaí investigating the death of cattle dealer Richie Barron in Raphoe, Co Donegal, maintains he was abused during both his arrest and detention.

Sergeant Joseph Hannigan, who was accompanied by Detective Garda PJ Keating, who carried out the arrest of Mr Quinn, denied there was any confrontation.

Under cross-examination, Anthony Barr, counsel for the tribunal, said: “He (Mr Quinn) has given an account in evidence of being removed relatively forcefully from the car by Det. Gda Keating, and in fact with such speed he wasn’t able to undo his seatbelt sufficiently quickly.

"As a result he got caught in it.”

Sgt Hannigan, who was the sergeant in charge of Raphoe Station, said: “That didn’t happen. It was a non-confrontational arrest. There was no problems at the arrest.”

Mr Barr said: “He says Det. Gda Keating, having removed him from the car seat, outside the vehicle then put him across the bonnet.

The sergeant added: “Det. Gda Keating is not an aggressive person. He is a mild-mannered person and he wouldn’t have done that.”

Mr Quinn was held in Letterkenny Garda Station in December 1996 in relation to the murder investigation. Officers initially believed Mr Barron had been murdered, and many people were arrested for questioning, before the death was later changed to a hit-and-run.

Last week, retired sergeant Martin Moylan made a dramatic u-turn before the tribunal revealing graphic autopsy images had been shown to Mr Quinn during interviews in Letterkenny Garda Station.

Two other gardaí have admitted during the inquiry that sisters Katrina Brolly and Róisín McConnell, Mr Quinn’s cousins, were subjected to hours of verbal and psychological abuse in custody.

Sgt Hannigan said gardaí had arrested Mr Quinn as he had been suspected of covering up for one of the main suspects, Mark McConnell, in the murder.

Officers had claimed the men had a vicious and violent row in the Town and Country pub in Raphoe, owned by Mr Quinn, the night before the victim’s body was found by a roadside.

Sgt Hannigan said officers believed there was a conspiracy of silence and Mr Quinn became a suspect as it was believed the extent of the row in the pub had been trivialised in statements.

Mr Quinn maintains Mr Keating manhandled him during his arrest and detention, dragging him from the vehicle, pushing him onto the bonnet of his car, pulling him upstairs in the garda station with no shoes on and pulling him over a table, showing him bullets while another garda placed a gun on the table.

The tribunal is currently examining claims 12 people, many related, were interrogated and intimidated during the botched death probe.

Sgt Hannigan denied telling Mr Quinn the murder squad were down from Dublin in a bid to frighten him as gardaí brought him to Letterkenny Garda Station to interview him.

He also told the tribunal Mr Quinn was not paraded around the station in stockings or in his bare feet.

Under cross-examination, Mr Barr queried: “Was he pulled up the steps in an aggressive manner by Det. Sgt Keating by holding onto the shoulder part of his jacket?”

Sgt Hannigan said: “No, he was not. He walked up the steps. I knew the man. I got on well with him. I wouldn’t have had Det. Gda Keating abuse him or pull him up the steps, he walked up.

“I am absolutely saying that absolutely did not happen.”