Publican told garda he could kill with bare hands, tribunal told

A Donegal publican told a former garda sergeant he was trained to kill a man with his bare hands, it was claimed today.

Disgraced officer John White told the Morris Tribunal he was nervous dealing with Frank McBrearty Snr and his family, adding it was time the probe heard what they were like.

The former garda, sacked from the force last year, said the nightclub boss, his son, and two employees were violent men who had short tempers, used bullying and intimidation tactics, and had no respect for policemen.

But the former officer denied suggestions he intensely disliked the family by tribunal counsel Anthony Barr.

“I treated him with fairness at all times but I was always aware Mr Barr that Frank McBrearty Snr was a killer,” he said.

“He killed a man in Scotland, okay he was acquitted of it, but he told me outside the door that he was trained in armed combat in the Congo. That he was trained to kill with his bare hands.”

The publican, who last gave evidence during the summer, is due to return to the tribunal tomorrow but on medical advice will only be questioned in the mornings, with other witnesses taking the stand in the afternoon.

In 1973 Mr McBrearty was acquitted of the culpable homicide of a man after a fight outside a pub in the Gorbals area of Glasgow. A jury at Glasgow Sheriff Court found him not guilty.

Mr Barr asked Mr White if in answering his questions he was trying to antagonise Mr McBrearty Snr so that he would not come back to give evidence.

“Is that your aim?” he said.

“Because you have taken the opportunity a number of times both today and on previous days to make a number of very derogatory comments about him not all of which were pertinent to the questions I was asking.”

“I am not trying to provoke him in anyway but it’s time the tribunal maybe found out what the McBrearty’s are like,” replied Mr White.

“I am in the box and it’s my opportunity to say so.

“He has made many comments about me when he was sitting here and I was down there, serious allegations about me, and nobody in the tribunal tried to stop him making those comments.

“I’m trying to give you a clear picture of what it was like in Raphoe at the time. I couldn’t deal with these people chairman.

“I had to be nice to them and there was torrents of abuse I wrote into my notebook. But I was nervous of them, Simple as that.”

The Morris Tribunal is investigating allegations that Mr White led a garda campaign of harassment against the publican, his family, business and staff following a botched death probe.

Gardai had accused Mr McBrearty’s son, Frank Jnr, and his cousin, Mark McConnell, of murdering local cattle dealer Richie Barron in October 1996. It was later ruled he was the victim of a hit-and-run.

In the following months, gardai increased inspections of the nightclub - sometimes visiting it up to four times a night. Almost 70 summons which were served against the licensee were later withdrawn on the direction of the DPP.

The disgraced garda, who was heavily criticised in several Morris reports, denies the accusations. He maintains he was following orders to enforce licencing laws.

Earlier, lawyers acting for Mr White said Mr McBrearty Snr, who recently won almost 4.5 million euro in damages from the state, could now afford legal representation at a tribunal.

He has continuously claimed mounting debts meant he could not afford the risk of hiring lawyers at the tribunal in case he was not awarded legal costs by chairman Mr Justice Frederick Morris.

Barrister Cormac O Dulachain SC also asked for the publican to be questioned about inconsistencies in evidence he told the tribunal and High Court in Castlebar.