Witness ignores summons to attend Morris tribunal

A man treated as a suspect over the death of Donegal cattle dealer Richie Barron today ignored a summons to appear before the Morris Tribunal.

Mark McConnell, whom gardaí believed was one of the main suspects in the death of Mr Barron in 1996, failed to attend the tribunal’s sub-module into his detention.

Mr McConnell’s cousin Frank McBrearty Jnr was also treated as a suspect in the death but the tribunal has heard Mr Barron was later found to have died as a result of a hit-and-run collision.

Complaints from a number of wrongly arrested suspects in the "murder" case, including the McBrearty family’s allegations of garda corruption, ultimately led to the tribunal.

Counsel for the tribunal, Peter Charleton, confirmed a summons was served on Mr McConnell by the tribunal’s summons server, Michael Foley, on September 5.

Mr Charleton said a number of e-mails had been received from Mr McConnell and it was understood he could attend next week.

Tribunal Chairman, Justice Frederick Morris, said: “I read the correspondence, and I note that Mr McConnell has said words to the effect, he does not propose to come to the tribunal, I do not propose to tolerate that sort of thing. If a tribunal summons a witness they are required to be in attendance.

“It is not as if this date was fixed in a vacuum it was fixed in order to facilitate Mr McConnell, his evidence was accommodated in every respect possible.”

Justice Morris said on the date the summons server can attend to provide proof of service he would make any order necessary.

The chairman said it wanted to make it clear to Mr McConnell he could not dictate when he would appear.

Mr Charleton said the tribunal solicitor would summons Mr McConnell to attend on Tuesday, October 3.

The tribunal heard a number of the people Mr McConnell had criticised in relation to his detention in garda custody and their legal representatives had travelled from Donegal to attend the sitting of the tribunal.

Justice Morris said: “I get the clear impression from the correspondence there is no intention of Mr McConnell turning up today.”

He added: “I very much regret they have that inconvenience and expense.”