The Raphoe nightclub owner, whose claims of Garda corruption led to the establishment of the Morris tribunal, showed symptoms of a possible heart attack when admitted to hospital during his arrest in Co Donegal a decade ago, a medical consultant has told the tribunal.
Frank McBrearty snr was arrested on the evening of December 5th, 1996, on suspicion of intimidating witnesses. Later that evening, he was brought to Letterkenny hospital complaining of chest pains.
Brian Callaghan, a consultant physician at Letterkenny General Hospital, said that Mr McBrearty had an abnormal heart reading, suffered from hypertension and elevated blood pressure and complained of numbness in his hand.
After several days, Mr McBrearty was sent to Dublin for tests in James Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown and then returned to Donegal and released back into Garda custody.
"We felt satisfied that he wasn't going to get a coronary or a stroke," Mr Callaghan said.
However, Mr Callaghan said that stress could exacerbate Mr McBrearty's condition and in a letter at the time, wrote that "it would not be in his best interest to be interrogated at this time".
"There was uncertainty, he did appear to be stressed," the consultant said. He said he had spoken with a garda in the room where Mr McBrearty was staying and explained the situation and "the officer was very professional and immediately left the room".
Following Mr McBrearty's release from the hospital on December 12th, he was readmitted the following day after Dr Brian McColgan examined him in Letterkenny Garda station.
Following tests in Beaumont Hospital, he was released from Garda custody on December 19th, 14 days after his arrest.
Retired sergeant Michael Brennan said he was present when Frank McBrearty jnr was arrested on December 4th, 1996. "It was known that he took his kids to school in the morning," he said.
He said the arrest was "very short, very brief" and afterwards he took Mr McBrearty's children home to their mother.
"They were deeply upset that their father was being taken and placed in the patrol car," he said.
Mr Brennan said he travelled the short distance to the family home with the two children, Garda Tina Fowley and Det Garda Martin Anderson and the children were handed over to their mother.
"She was quite upset and I could understand why she would be," he said.
The former sergeant totally rejected allegations from Mr McBrearty that gardaí used abusive language during the arrest. "It certainly wasn't said in the presence of the kids or my presence," he said.
Dr McColgan and Dr John McFeeley told the tribunal they examined Mr McBrearty jnr following his second arrest on February 4th, 1997, and noted he had black eyes and a large lump on his forehead. Mr McBrearty has told the tribunal that a garda pushed his head against a desk and he punched himself four times in the face. Dr McFeeley said Mr McBrearty jnr suffered from "acute anxiety" following his arrests.