A Donegal garda has told the Morris tribunal that he saw two Raphoe gardaí drinking in a Lifford pub the night that Raphoe cattle dealer Richie Barron died.
Garda James Connolly told the tribunal that he went to the Lifford pub after completing his duty on Sunday night, October 13th, 1996, arriving there at about 11 p.m.
He said Garda Pádraig Mulligan had a civilian jacket over his uniform shirt, and O'Dowd was in plain clothes. "I can recall seeing Garda Mulligan and Garda O'Dowd in the bar area, a distance of 15 or 20 feet from where I was."
"I'm not exactly sure of the time. I'd say it was twelve o'clock or around that." The garda said he was in the pub until "approximately 1 a.m.", and that Mulligan and O'Dowd were gone by then. Garda Mulligan was on duty at the time. "Some time later on, I knew it was an issue," Garda Connolly told the chairman. Garda Connolly, who is now stationed in Mountcharles in south Donegal, said he was called to preserve the scene of Mr Barron's death the next morning. He said that when he got there after 9 a.m., the scene had been cleaned by local people.
Asked if he knew Garda Mulligan and Garda O'Dowd had attended the scene the night before, he said: "I didn't know that they were on duty." Garda Mulligan was on duty that night.
Garda Connolly made a statement on April 28th, 2000, to the Carty team. He said it was difficult to make a statement against colleagues, but no one had discouraged him from making it. Mr Tom Creed SC said his clients did not dispute they were in the pub. Their evidence would be they were there between 12.25 a.m. and 1 a.m., and had one drink. Garda Connolly said this was possible and he would not dispute it.
Earlier, Ms Kay Quinn told the tribunal that on October 13th she arrived at the Town & Country pub around 9.30 p.m. She left the Town & Country with her husband around 1.30 a.m. or later. Mark and Roisín McConnell, who were in her company, had left earlier. Ms Quinn said she made a statement to gardaí, and was later approached by Det Sgt Sylvie Henry and Det Garda Jennings, who told her it was now a murder investigation, not a hit-and-run.
Ms Quinn said the guards were very interested in a row between Richie Barron and Mr Mark McConnell, and in the time Mr McConnell left the Town & Country pub.
Ms Quinn also said she was approached by various guards to make a statement. She said she got the feeling the guards kept coming back because they knew she had split with her husband Mr Gerard Quinn, and would say something against the family.