Supergrass given preferential treatment
Lawyers for John Gilligan have told the Special Criminal Court that state supergrass Charles Bowden was given favourable treatment by gardai, once he agreed to give evidence against the suspected killers of Veronica Guerin.
On day 10 of the Gilligan trial the court heard Bowden was never investigated by the Criminal Assets Bureau or prosecuted even after he admitted importing £40,000 worth of cocaine.
Protected witness John Dunne spent another day in a room at the side of the Special Criminal Court today waiting to take the witness stand but due to the extended cross-examination of a Garda witness Dunne's testimony never began.
Instead, Gilligan's counsel Michael O'Higgins SC, tackled Detective Inspector John O'Mahony on what he terms the favourable treatment granted to another state supergrass, specifically Charles Bowden.
Unlike Bowden, he said, former partner in crime Brian Meehan has been investigated by the Criminal Assets Bureau and two members of Meehan's family had been convicted for laundering drugs money.
Gilligan's barrister said that Bowden’s wife admitted offences but was never questioned by the gardai and the supergrass himself who earned up to £6,000 a week from drugs was never investigated by the CAB.
