Solicitor recalls pandemonium surrounding garda death probe
There was pandemonium in Letterkenny while the death of cattle dealer Richie Barron was being investigated, the Morris Tribunal heard today.
Solicitor James O’Donnell, who was representing Katrina Brolly at the time, told the hearing there was an atmosphere in the station and gardai were hostile.
He said many of those arrested in relation to the investigation complained about their treatment while in custody.
“Nothing was straight forward,” said Mr O’Donnell. “Everything was made difficult by the Gardaí at the time.
“I’m remembering 10 years ago but I just remember there wasn’t much co-operation.”
Mr O’Donnell, who practised civil law, was involved in the case due to the high number of local people arrested.
Although he couldn’t specifically point out any particular encounter with a garda, Mr O’Donnell said he found a hostile reception to him as a solicitor visiting clients.
“There was a whole atmosphere about it,” he continued. “I do not think there had been anything like this in Letterkenny for a period. I would have mainly been a civil lawyer and I wouldn’t have been involved in criminal matters.
“There was absolute pandemonium,” he said.
“We were getting calls at all hours that people had been lifted. There was general pandemonium.
“We were going to the station morning, noon and night. It wasn’t the normal practice we did.”
He added: “All the clients I had seen were all fairly distressed and all made certain allegations in relation to their treatment.”
The Morris Tribunal is currently hearing evidence over the detention of two Donegal sisters in Letterkenny Garda Station in December 1996 in relation to the death of Mr Barron.
Three officers – Detective Garda John Dooley, Detective Sergeant John White and Garda Joan Gallagher – are accused of intimidating Roisin McConnell and Katrina Brolly while investigating the whereabouts of Mrs McConnell’s husband Mark who was wrongly accused of being involved in his death.
The tribunal previously heard the women were threatened with long jail sentences, had their hair pulled, were shown graphic pictures of a dead man, that a chair was thrown across the room, lights were flicked and they were told their children would be taken away by social services.
The tribunal was told today the solicitor’s firm, which later ceased operating, wrote letters of complaint to the Gardai over the treatment of those arrested but had never received a reply. .
Mr O’Donnell said Mrs Brolly told him she has been harassed and abused, highlighting her hair being pulled by a garda called Joan and being threatened her mother would be locked up if she didn’t co-operate.
Referring to hand-written notes made with Mrs Brolly the day after her release, he continued: “I remember she was in a fairly distressed state. She was all over the place. She was the last person who expected to be arrested.
“She had hardly gone up to the police station to collect somebody if she thought she was going to be arrested.”
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