A Garda "informant" has claimed that she washed what may have been blood from a metal object allegedly used by two gardaí in the killing of cattle dealer Mr Richie Barron.
Ms Adrienne McGlinchey said she had been told by Det Garda Noel McMahon, who has been suspended from the force, that two unnamed gardaí killed Mr Barron in October 1996 in a scuffle on the road near his home in Raphoe, Co Donegal.
She further claimed he asked her to give money to a man to help out "a garda in trouble", and that the man in question gave her a metal object which Det Garda McMahon instructed her to wash.
In a statement to the Carty inquiry, the internal Garda investigation into garda misconduct in Co Donegal, Ms McGlinchey said Det Garda McMahon warned her that her DNA might be found on the implement if it was ever found.
However, she said, she believed the story he told her about the killing was "rubbish".
Det Garda McMahon denies all the allegations.
The claims were revealed by Mr Peter Charleton SC, counsel for the tribunal, on the second day of its preliminary opening statement to the Morris inquiry, which is sitting in Donegal this week.
Mr Charleton later described the events which led to Det Garda McMahon's arrest in June 2000 for unlawful possession of ammunition.
Of the Barron case, Mr Charleton said the allegations of garda involvement were contained in "an extremely elaborate story" told by Ms McGlinchey to gardaí in August 1999.
"To summarise," he said, "she claimed that Noel McMahon rang her in Dublin because he needed to get his hands on money quickly because there was a garda in trouble. He asked for £10,000 and she managed to raise £3,000. It was arranged that she drive to a hotel in Lifford and meet a person. There was a man in a Land-Rover whom she describes as "a farmer-type person about 50 years of age". "She gave him the money and, in return, two weeks later she was asked to get another item. The same individual met her at Letterkenny Hospital and handed over an item, 'a metal weight'. On instructions from Noel McMahon she put it in the bath and washed it," the statement of her account read.
Ms McGlinchey claimed that what she washed from the implement could have been blood. She further claimed that Det Garda McMahon told her it had something to do with the death of Mr Barron.
She said she dumped the implement in a forest.
"Gardaí later searched the forest with negative results," said Mr Charleton.
Ms McGlinchey further claimed that Det Garda McMahon told her that two gardaí were driving outside Raphoe when they came across a man who was "very drunk and out on the road. They shouted at him to get off the road, but he told them 'F--- off'. One of the guards got out and there was a scuffle. The other guard then got out and clobbered this person . . ." She claimed Det Garda McMahon told her the man had been killed with the metal object which he had subsequently been given in Letterkenny.
In a separate statement to the Carty inquiry, Ms Sheenagh McMahon, the estranged wife of Det Garda McMahon, indicated that after her husband was transferred to Letterkenny he had told her that Supt Kevin Lennon had wanted him to take part in the investigation into the death of Mr Barron, but that he had declined.
On November 6th, 1996, the legally held shotgun and official revolver of Det Garda McMahon were seized from him by Supt Lennon. The official weapon was returned at a later stage, but the shotgun was retained.
On September 13th, 1999, after the establishment of the Carty inquiry, Det Garda McMahon's home in Letterkenny was searched. In it were found two bags of granulated substance, believed to have originated from commercial fireworks, together with assorted spent shells, 10 rounds of assorted ammunition and six Hilti gun blanks, 1.983 grams of cannabis and an "advice on proofs"-type document in relation to the Frank Shortt case.
Mr Charleton said Det Garda McMahon claimed that the cannabis came from his wife "even though it was in the breast pocket of a man's suit".
In her statement to the inquiry, she said she knew her husband had some cannabis in the house and that it had been brought there by him after having allegedly been found at Mr Shortt's premises, The Point Inn.
On the day of the search, Det Garda McMahon was suspended from duty. In June 2000, he was arrested for possession of ammunition in Co Donegal between September 9th and 11th, 1993.
The tribunal will each day be posting statements read before it on: www.morristribunal.ie
