FORMER ATTORNEY general Harry Whelehan, who as a young barrister acted as a junior counsel in the Martin Conmey manslaughter trial, was called to appear before the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday.
Mr Whelehan, now retired, said his first involvement in the “very dramatic and very tragic” case was when he acted on behalf of Martin Kerrigan and successfully sought his release from Garda custody. This, the court was told, was “a bitter sweet victory” as Kerrigan was subsequently abducted and killed.
He said recently he was asked to review a series of statements from three important witnesses and said he was “as certain as one can be” that defence lawyers for Mr Conmey were not furnished with such documents at the time of his 1971 trial. Mr Whelehan agreed with Michael O’Higgins SC, also for Mr Conmey, that their existence was important, as they could have opened up “new lines of inquiry”.
The court heard how the defence ran their case using a “two-pronged approach”; the unreliability of crucial State witnesses in the case and the manner in which statements were obtained from Mr Conmey.
Mr Whelehan said it would have been relevant to their defence if it could have been established that witnesses were “repeatedly brought back” into Garda stations to make further “inconsistent” statements
Yesterday’s hearing also heard how certain papers connected to the case, which were ordered to be preserved, were stored in the “ladies lavatory” of Drogheda Garda station.