Court hears garda failed to follow witness regulations

The State’s main witness, Joseph O’Brien, has admitted being heavily involved in the murder, but was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for testifying against the four defendants.

John Carroll (aged 33) was shot dead while socialising in Grumpy Jack’s Pub in the Coombe just after 9.30pm on February 18, 2009.

Father-of-two Bernard Hempenstall (aged 28) from Park Terrace, The Coombe, Peter Kenny (aged 28) of McCarthy’s Terrace, Rialto; Damien Johnston (aged 27) of Cashel Avenue, Crumlin; and Christopher Zambra (aged 35) of Galtymore Road, Drimnagh have all pleaded not guilty to murdering the father-of-three.

Det. Sgt Whitelaw, a senior garda in the investigation, said today that Mr O’Brien had been giving him information about drug crime for years, at least since 2005.

“He’d tell me who was doing it and where they were doing it. I’d have to work on it then,” he told Michael O’Higgins SC, defending Damien Johnston.

He also accepted that Mr O’Brien had tried to ring him at 12.50pm the day before the murder, just before Mr O’Brien said he and some of the defendants met to discuss the killing.

Det. Sgt Whitelaw agreed with Mr O’Higgins that there were always rules and regulations about people giving information to the gardaí.

He agreed that before 2006 a garda was obliged to complete a form, C77, when dealing with an informant but said that he had never filled in one in relation to Mr O’Brien.

“There was nothing significant that he told me,” said Det. Sgt Whitelaw.

He agreed that the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Chis) system came into force in 2006, as a result of the Morris Tribunal.

Mr O’Higgins suggested that like Det. Sgt Whitelaw, the Donegal gardaí involved in the Richie Barron case had not been heeding regulations for dealing with informers.

Det. Sgt Whitelaw agreed that the ‘Chis’ system trained handlers but that he had never received any such training.

He agreed that the authority to recruit and manage ‘Chis’ would be given only by the Assistant Commissioner at Crime and Security and that he had never got that permission.

However, he denied that he "completely disregarded" the new Chis code in favour of running his own private police force.

“I asked Joseph O’Brien if he would consider it and he said no,” explained the detective sergeant.

He agreed that there was "no piece of paper", "not even the back of an envelope" recording his relationship with Mr O’Brien.

He agreed that an informer was not the property of a police officer, but of a police force and that the Pulse system had been set up to allow officers to share information.

“You never made a single entry to his Pulse record,” noted Mr O’Higgins, adding that there were hundreds of entries on Mr O‘Brien‘s record.

“Because you were keeping this fella to yourself, harvesting, hoarding this information, getting these convictions and moving your career along,” suggested the barrister.

Det. Sgt Whitelaw denied this.

The detective sergeant could see why it would be important to know the motivation of an informer, but said he did not know Mr O’Brien’s motivation.

He said it was a "possibility" that Mr O’Brien was regularly feeding the police information so that he would have a friendly policeman if ever arrested.

Det. Sgt Whitelaw had already told the court that he arrested Mr O’Brien two nights after the murder.

He said Mr O’Brien immediately indicated a willingness to tell the truth about his involvement in the murder and that of others. He said he asked about the Witness Protection Programme and gave his first statement early in his detention.

Mr O’Brien has testified that Peter Kenny was the gunman in the murder, Damien Johnston drove him to the scene, Bernard Hempenstall ensured the victim was in the pub and that Christopher Zambra was the brains behind the murder.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Barry White and a jury of eight men and four women.