A mother-of-three today told the Morris Tribunal that gardai questioning her over the death of a Donegal cattle-dealer threatened to have her children put into care if she refused to implicate her brother-in-law in murder.
Outlining hours of psychological torture in Letterkenny Garda Station, Katrina Brolly said she was called a lying bastard as a female officer, Garda Joan Gallagher, pulled her hair.
"They (gardai) were still asking me questions and calling me a lying bastard and then she (Gda Gallagher) reached for my hair," Mrs Brolly said. "It was a good sharp pull. Twice she pulled it."
Other officers warned her she could go to jail for up to 14 years and that her two young sons would be taken off her unless she told them about who was involved in the Barron death, Mrs Brolly told the Morris Tribunal.
"They had me convinced that I was being kept," she said. "First for 14 years then the others came in and I was doing seven."
"They led me to believe that I was going away, that I was going to do time," Mrs Brolly added.
During the intense interrogation Det Sgt John White and Garda John Dooley wanted Mrs Brolly to implicate her brother-in-law Mark McConnell in murder. She said officers old her "my children would be taken away from me and that my son would be got," unless she told the truth.
Breaking down in tears Mrs Brolly said: "Of course I was upset. I was very upset."
Mrs Brolly confirmed she was shown a collection of graphic photographs from Richie Barron's post mortem before being told that Mr Barron's ghost would come back to haunt her unless she told the truth. Mrs Brolly said the lights in the interview room were dimmed and the pictures were thrown in her face.
And she revealed Garda Gallagher was used to strike fear into her: "She would not have been in the room that much, she was only used as a threat by them."
She said she complained about the intimidation and harassment but a senior officer, Det Sgt Paul Heffernan, shrugged his shoulders and said he had done nothing wrong.
Mrs Brolly said an interviewing officer who has admitted the abuse last week, Garda John Dooley, claimed that Mr McConnell was having an affair
Earlier today Det Sgt White revealed he lied about the atrocious treatment of Katrina Brolly and her sister Roisin McConnell.
Det Sgt White said today that his "conduct in these matters falls far short of an acceptable standard.
"I acknowledge that their [Mrs McConnell and Mrs Brolly] treatment was in breach of custody regulations and their human rights.
"I fully acknowledge that each of them is blameless in relation to the investigation and the treatment of them by me is inexcusable."
Det Sgt White, who served in top Dublin detective units in the early 1980s, also confirmed Letterkenny Garda Station, where the interrogations took place, had been bugged.
Ms Brolly and Ms McConnell were arrested on December 4th, 1996, as part of the investigation into the death of Mr Barron. Ms McConnell's husband, Mark, and cousin Frank McBrearty jnr were arrested for the murder of the cattle-dealer.