Omagh trial witness 'terrified'
20/01/2010 - 14:50:17A Co Armagh farmer who gave evidence by video link from Belfast was described by a judge at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today as "terrified'' when he repeatedly said he could not remember working for Colm Murphy, the man accused of conspiracy in relation to the 1998 Omagh bombing.
Mr Justice Paul Butler, presiding, made his comment after Patrick Terence Morgan continually wiped his face and drank from a glass of water during questioning by prosecuting counsel Mr Tom O' Connell SC.
Mr O' Connell asked Mr Morgan if he was on medication and he replied: "On nerve tablets and sleeping tablets". Mr Morgan, who is a prosecution witness, repeatedly replied: "I can't remember" when he was asked if he had ever worked for Murphy.
Mr Morgan, from Mullaghbawn in Co Armagh, also said he had a headache and "my head is blank'' when questioned about making a statement to the RUC in February 1999.
It was the first time that the Special Criminal Court has used a video link with a Belfast court to hear evidence.
It was the sixth day of the retrial of Colm Murphy, who has pleaded not guilty to conspiring in Dundalk between August 13 and 16, 1998 with another person to cause an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property in the State or elsewhere.
The prosecution is alleging that Murphy lent two mobile phones to a man who used them while transporting the bomb in a stolen Vauxhall Cavalier car from Dundalk to Omagh. The prosecution is claiming that calls made from Murphy's phone from Omagh were consistent with the timing of the bombing.
Murphy (aged 57), a building contractor and publican who is a native of Co Armagh but with an address at Jordan's Corner, Ravensdale, Co Louth, was freed on bail in 2005 after the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed his conviction.
He was jailed for 14 years by the Special Criminal Court in January 2002 for his alleged role in the Omagh bomb, but in January 2005 the Court of Criminal Appeal overturned the conviction and ordered a retrial.
The Omagh bomb, which was claimed by the Real IRA, killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins and injured more than 300.
Retired RUC Detective Chief Superintendent Hamilton Houston also told the court by video link that he was the investigating officer into the Omagh bomb. He said that 2,500 people were interviewed and 63 suspects were arrested in a wide ranging investigation involving the RUC, the Garda Siochána and police in the UK.
The trial is continuing.
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