High Court to rule on garda's perjury case

The High Court is to give its judgment today in the case of a garda detective seeking to stop his trial on perjury charges relating to evidence he gave during the trial of Colm Murphy in relation to the 1998 Omagh bombing.

Det Garda Liam Donnelly claims his right to a fair trial has been prejudiced because of a number of factors, including the absence of evidence from a forensic expert regarding interview notes.

The expert had testified a page of the notes was doctored.

One of the original documents which were examined is now missing and Det Garda Donnelly is insisting he will not receive a fair trial.

He also claimed the delay in bringing the prosecution has caused him prejudice, stress and anxiety.

Both Det Garda Donnelly and his colleague Det Garda John Fahy were returned for trial in January 2005 on perjury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court relating to evidence they gave at Mr Murphy’s trial. A date for the case has been fixed for October 16. The pair have denied the charges.

The officers were part of the garda team based at Carrickmacross who interviewed Mr Murphy but now face two counts of falsely swearing evidence during his trial between October 18 and November 15, 2001.

Mr Murphy was convicted in the non-jury Special Criminal Court in January 2002 of conspiring to cause an explosion. Twenty-nine people were killed in the Real IRA no-warning strike in the centre of Omagh in August 1998.

A retrial was subsequently ordered by the Court of Criminal Appeal after it quashed the conviction on two grounds, including the approach taken by the court regarding the alteration of garda interview notes and the evidence given by the officers.