Gardaí deny perjury

The trial of two detective gardaí accused of perjury during the 2001 trial of a suspect in the Omagh bombing has continued in legal argument at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Detective garda John Fahy (aged 53), of Glaslough, Co Monaghan and Liam Donnelly (aged 50), of Cavan Town gave evidence in the 2001 trial of Colm Murphy and have pleaded not guilty to charges of perjury, forgery and using a forged document.

The detectives are accused of two counts of perjury in that they knowingly and falsely swore under oath that the purported notes of their interview with Colm Murphy on February 22, 1999 had not been rewritten and were an accurate account, on dates between October 18 and November 15, 2001 at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin.

The gardaí are further accused of two counts of forging notes of interview with Mr Murphy on a date between February 21 and 22, 1999 and using a forged document at the 2001 trial with the intention to deceive.

The hearing continues before Judge Desmond Hogan in the absence of the jury which have been asked to return next week.