A former detective sergeant has said it was not his fault that Raphoe publican Frank McBrearty snr would not testify before the Morris tribunal.
Mr McBrearty (63), who has been under summons to give evidence for several months, failed to appear as scheduled on Tuesday.
The tribunal is investigating allegations of wrongdoing against some members of the Garda in Co Donegal.
The hearing was told that comments made at the tribunal the previous day by former sergeant John White, which were broadcast on local radio and reported in the national press, had caused distress to Mr McBrearty and his family.
"Mr McBrearty was blaming me for it and I don't want to receive the blame for him not coming in to the tribunal," Mr White told tribunal chairman Mr Justice Frederick Morris.
"He has done it before," Mr White told the chairman.
"He walked out of this tribunal and you told him to come back two or three times and resume his seat and he totally ignored you and treated the tribunal with derision. Nothing happened to him over that and it is my belief that he feels he can get away with it.
"He doesn't want to answer cross-examination, he doesn't want to answer questions and it's improper of him to blame me for what he has done and I'll leave it at that, chairman."
Mr White was stationed in the Border town as a sergeant a decade ago, at a time when the publican claims a Garda harassment campaign targeted his business and family after they wrongly became murder suspects following the hit-and-run death of local cattle dealer Richie Barron.
Mr White said policing in Donegal at the time was a difficult assignment and his family had been terrified on one occasion when a car was burned at his home.
Mr White told the tribunal how early one morning in October 1998, he finished duty at 4.30am and was at home about 30 minutes when the security lights in his home came on and he saw an orange glow outside. "That was a very distressing thing for me personally, absolutely. To think that somebody could come in to your property and burn your car." The vehicle was uninsured, because he had bought a newer car and was planning on selling the old one to his brother.
Mr White said his solicitor had made inquiries as to licences that existed during the period covered in a recent High Court claim for loss of earnings by Mr McBrearty's business.
It appeared there was no licence for the premises between 1997 and 1999. There was an application in 2000 to restore a licence.