A man accused of making false statements to gardaí in connection with the McBrearty affair was "poor, illiterate and mentally retarded" and was "used and abused" in a reprehensible and disgraceful way by two gardaí, his defence counsel has said.
At Sligo Circuit Court yesterday, Mr Colm Smyth SC said it was an "extraordinary" case and after its conclusion "nothing will ever be quite the same again for the Garda Síochána".
Mr Smyth was closing the defence case of Mr Bernard Conlon of Cartron Bay, Sligo, who has denied three counts of making false statements to gardaí on dates in 1998.
The court has heard that Mr Conlon, prompted by a garda, made statements against the McBrearty family of Raphoe and alleged that two men called to his home and threatened him with a silver bullet. In a subsequent statement he accepted these allegations were false.
Mr Smyth said it was extraordinary that Mr Conlon, who was "the weakest person", was the only one to have been brought to book. No garda had been prosecuted arising out of the circumstances before the court, he said.
There was no question of Mr Conlon being "a full and knowing participant", as the prosecution had alleged on the opening day of the trial, Mr Smyth said.
A psychologist had given evidence that Mr Conlon's IQ was in the 50s, putting him in the category of a person suffering from mild mental handicap.
Mr Conlon, he said, had been called "Detective Garda Conlon" by two named gardaí on a number of occasions and he believed he was "on Garda duty" and helping to get murderers off the street.
Mr Smyth said it was sad to think that the two gardaí, whose names could not be published, "could use and abuse a man such as Bernard Conlon, a poor, illiterate, mentally retarded person".
It was "reprehensible" and "a disgrace". They had made him feel "for the first time in his miserable life that he was important, that somebody in authority depended on him".
There was no level too low for these gardaí, as had been shown by forged documents produced in court, Mr Smyth said.
These forgeries were made by gardaí for the purpose of getting expenses unlawfully for Mr Conlon for appearances at Letterkenny District Court where he was a State witness against the McBreartys in licensing prosecutions.
Earlier a Sligo property developer, Mr Tommy Maguire and his brother Ben, had given evidence that employment certificates purporting to be signed by them were fakes.
The fake certificates claimed that Mr Conlon was a housing caretaker and that he had lost £40 in wages for every day he had to be at court. A total of seven such certificates were produced, claiming a total of £920.
A Dublin-based garda, Supt Joseph McGarty, who was asked by defence counsel about these certificates told Judge Carroll Moran that he would "prefer not to comment" because a file had been sent to the DPP on the matter and no decision had yet been taken.
Closing the prosecution case, Mr Paul O'Higgins said the background was "the most unusual dealings" among the Garda in Donegal but this was not pertinent to what the jury had to decide. They were entitled to question the psychologist's assessment of Mr Conlon as bordering on mental handicap.
If a person knew what he was doing was wrong, he was not entitled to be acquitted because he was not as bright as somebody else.
The case continues today.