A man who was questioned over the death of Donegal cattle dealer Richie Barron today failed to obey a summons to appear before the Morris tribunal.
Mark McConnell, who was questioned by gardaí in 1996, drew the anger of chairman Mr Justice Frederick Morris today when he failed to attend the tribunal's sub-module into his detention today.
Mr McConnell's cousin Frank McBrearty jnr was also treated as a suspect in the death, but the tribunal has heard Mr Barron was later found to have died as a result of a hit-and-run.
Counsel for the tribunal Peter Charleton today confirmed a summons was served on Mr McConnell on September 5th. Counsel said that a number of e-mails had been received from Mr McConnell and it was understood he could attend next week.
Mr Justice Morris, said: "I read the correspondence, and I note that Mr McConnell has said words to the effect, he does not propose to come to the tribunal . . . I do not propose to tolerate that sort of thing.
"If a tribunal summons a witness they are required to be in attendance. It is not as if this date was fixed in a vacuum. It was fixed in order to facilitate Mr McConnell, his evidence was accommodated in every respect possible.".
Mr Charleton said the tribunal solicitor would summons Mr McConnell to attend on Tuesday, October 3rd.
Complaints from a number of wrongly arrested suspects in the alleged murder case, including the McBrearty family's allegations of Garda corruption, led to the tribunal's creation.
Tribunal chairman Mr Justice Frederick Morris has already found Donegal gardaí attempted to frame Mr McConnell and Mr McBrearty jnr for the alleged murder.
During today's hearing, John McGinley, who recently retired as a superintendent, admitted he had asked another officer to forge Garda files of a woman being interviewed in relation to the death of Mr Barron.
Mr McGinley, who was a detective inspector at the time, said he asked to have two questions he put to Roisin McConnell, Mr McConnell's wife, during the interview be removed from the official record.
He interrogated the mother-of-two who was wrongly arrested on December 4th, 1996, in connection with Mr Barron's death.
Mr McGinley said he was embarrassed about two questions relating to whether she was a good woman, and a religious woman.
He said he asked Sgt Brian McEntee to approach Det Gda John Harkin, who was responsible for taking the notes during the interview, to amend them to exclude the two questions.
The tribunal heard this came to light when another garda made allegations in relation to discrepancies in the notes as the original statement had also been left in the official system.
"I suppose at this stage, I would like to apologise to yourself and the tribunal for, I am not sure it is enough at this stage, but for what it is worth I do so," Mr McGinley said, admitting it was not normal for a garda to attempt to alter records.
Mr Charleton suggested the only true apology would be to tell the truth.
Mr McGinley said he did not know the altered interview notes had made their way into the system until a number years later.