Two Garda detectives lied under oath while giving evidence at the trial of a man accused of being involved in the Omagh bombings, a court heard today.
The senior gardaí are accused of falsifying statements from Colm Murphy, who is alleged to have conspired with the bombers in August 1998.
Detective Garda Liam Donnelly and Detective Garda John Fahy appeared at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court today charged with two counts of perjury.
The pair also face two counts of forging notes and a single count each of using a forged document at the 2001 trial. The men deny the charges.
Both men were part of teams of officers based at Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, who interviewed Mr Murphy during his 48-hour detention in February 1999, senior counsel for the State Paul O'Higgins said.
He told the jury that the gardaí had been investigating the Co Tyrone bombing atrocity when they arrested Mr Murphy for conspiracy.
Mr O'Higgins said the prosecution would prove a third and final page of interview notes taken by the pair had been replaced with a new sheet before it was submitted as evidence in court.
He said a forensic test known as electrostatic document analysis (ESDA) would prove the case.
"The process [ESDA] enables evidence to be found in relation to indentations which have been left on paper after other sheets of paper have been written on and the top of the sheets on which the indentations have left."
The prosecution claims the gardaí knowingly and falsely swore under oath that notes of their interview with Mr Murphy, on February 22nd, 1999, had not been rewritten and were an accurate account at his trial in 2001.
It is also alleged they forged notes of an interview with Mr Murphy on a date between February 21st and 22nd, 1999, and used a forged document at the trial with the intention to deceive.
Mr Murphy (53) was accused of lending his mobile phone and another phone to the people who planted the Omagh device, knowing it would be used for moving bombs. He denied conspiring to cause an explosion between August 13th and 16th 1998.
PA