A witness in the Tom Clisham murder trial told the jury in the Central Criminal Court in Dublin she had changed her statement after being asked by gardai to do so and she felt she had "no choice". Mr Patrick Joseph McGreene (29), with addresses at Corrib Park and St Mary's Road, Galway has denied the murder of his uncle, Mr Tom Clisham (53), between November 24th and December 4th, 1997, at Inveran, Co Galway.
Giving evidence, Ms Iris O'Reilly said she once worked in a pub owned by her family where Mr Clisham regularly drank. She said she first told gardai that she had seen Mr Clisham on November 28th, 1997, in the pub, buying drinks for himself and others.
She said gardai asked her to make a statement, which she did, but that "about a week later they came back to the pub and asked me to change my statement because he couldn't have been here because he was dead," she said.
Gardai were "laughing and joking", Ms O'Reilly said. They told her "it must be a case of dead man walking because he was dead the week before", she said.
"I kept saying he was definitely there and they kept saying he was definitely dead. They were in maybe three to four times a day for about a week or two weeks."
The jury has heard that Mr Clisham's body was found partially eaten by animals on December 4th, 1997, at Inveran.
The prosecution has claimed that Mr McGreene killed his uncle after they allegedly had a row on the night of November 24th, but no definite date has been established for Mr Clisham's death.
Ms O'Reilly told the court that after making her first statement, she signed a second statement, read out to her by Garda Brian Mongan. The second statement said that "having spoken to others in the bar I now know I was mistaken about the date I last saw Tom Clisham. It was about a week earlier. I have had this statement read out to me and it is correct."
Ms O'Reilly told the court she went to a solicitor later and told him she didn't want to make the second statement but felt that she had "no choice".
"I didn't want to make the second one but I did," she said.
"I saw Tom Clisham on November 28th at that party. I served him all night until closing. It was him coming up to the bar buying drink all night," she said.
Asked by Mr John Rogers SC, defending, why she believed it was November 28th when she last saw Mr Clisham, Ms O'Reilly said there was an 18th birthday party that evening in the pub, the booking for which was recorded in a diary. The diary was presented to the court.
Giving evidence for the prosecution, Garda Brian Mongan said he had visited Ms O'Reilly on three occasions during the investigation.
The court previously heard that Mr Clisham was found dead in his home wearing only socks, with his hands bound loosely. Pets or rodents had eaten away at his flesh and there was evidence of bleeding into the mastoid and a vertical fracture of the airpipe.
The trial continues tomorrow.