NAMING NAMES
Naming Names
CRIMINAL JUSTICE: The law must take its course
IN Northern Ireland, it has been difficult to get people to come forward with evidence even in the case of a terrorist atrocity like Omagh, which many people must know about. In the Republic, the same problem surrounds the murder of Det. Garda Jerry McCabe, a 52-year-old father of five shot during a failed post office van robbery in the picturesque village of Adare, Co Limerick, in June 1996.
In scenes reminiscent of land war trials in the 19th century, when Irish juries refused to return guilty verdicts in the face of overwhelming evidence, one prosecution witness was yesterday jailed in Dublin for contempt of court and two others were declared hostile. They declined to confirm what the police say they told them about the four men charged with murder, including Pearse McCauley, from Strabane, an IRA escapee from Brixton Prison. A fifth man denies possession of ammunition and conspiring to commit robbery.
The Tipperary farmer, who was jailed for contempt, refused to take the oath and told the three judges in the Special Criminal Court that he could not take part in the case. Even when warned that he had a duty to give evidence, he replied: "I am very sorry. I can't."
The other two, father and daughter Patrick and Sally Walsh, took the oath but repeatedly told the court that they could not recall the events of the night before the shooting. In a bizarre exchange, Ms Walsh, whose brother is on trial for murder, said she could not recall making a statement to gardai in which she identified the four defendants as having been in her house in Co Limerick the night before the shooting, when rifles and other firearms were present. She said she had been threatened by gardai and did not know why she was in court.
Her father was equally uncooperative, before being declared a hostile witness. A garda inspector said Mr Walsh had corrected and signed a statement he had made. But in court he denied it was his signature, telling the judges: "My memory is not great."
There is still plenty of evidence to be considered, in a case that is in its seventh day, but the virtual withdrawal of three important witnesses is proof of the difficulties of a trial in Ireland. The gardai have never been in doubt that the murder was committed in the course of an attempted IRA robbery, with IRA guns, but it may still be difficult to prove. The public, which showed its revulsion in the enormous crowds that attended Garda McCabe's funeral, will be appalled.
There was even an attempt by a former IRA gun-runner and Sinn Fein negotiator, Martin Ferris, to argue that anyone found guilty of the murder should be included in the early releases under the Good Friday agreement. Although this was rejected by the Irish Justice Minister, John O'Donoghue, who has assured angry gardai that a 40-year sentence is mandatory, it is evidence of the unashamed nature of contemporary republicanism.
It now seems that Andrew Hunter, the Tory MP who threatened to name suspects in the Omagh case, has been dissuaded by charges that he could interfere with the course of justice. Using parliamentary privilege in this way is always dangerous, especially so if those named are living in the Republic and could use their targeting to avoid extradition. Yet he has highlighted a perennial problem, the conspiracy of silence that descends in both the republican and loyalist communities when police appeal for co-operation, even when there is no sympathy for the perpetrators. The silence must be broken.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE: The law must take its course
IN Northern Ireland, it has been difficult to get people to come forward with evidence even in the case of a terrorist atrocity like Omagh, which many people must know about. In the Republic, the same problem surrounds the murder of Det. Garda Jerry McCabe, a 52-year-old father of five shot during a failed post office van robbery in the picturesque village of Adare, Co Limerick, in June 1996.
In scenes reminiscent of land war trials in the 19th century, when Irish juries refused to return guilty verdicts in the face of overwhelming evidence, one prosecution witness was yesterday jailed in Dublin for contempt of court and two others were declared hostile. They declined to confirm what the police say they told them about the four men charged with murder, including Pearse McCauley, from Strabane, an IRA escapee from Brixton Prison. A fifth man denies possession of ammunition and conspiring to commit robbery.
The Tipperary farmer, who was jailed for contempt, refused to take the oath and told the three judges in the Special Criminal Court that he could not take part in the case. Even when warned that he had a duty to give evidence, he replied: "I am very sorry. I can't."
The other two, father and daughter Patrick and Sally Walsh, took the oath but repeatedly told the court that they could not recall the events of the night before the shooting. In a bizarre exchange, Ms Walsh, whose brother is on trial for murder, said she could not recall making a statement to gardai in which she identified the four defendants as having been in her house in Co Limerick the night before the shooting, when rifles and other firearms were present. She said she had been threatened by gardai and did not know why she was in court.
Her father was equally uncooperative, before being declared a hostile witness. A garda inspector said Mr Walsh had corrected and signed a statement he had made. But in court he denied it was his signature, telling the judges: "My memory is not great."
There is still plenty of evidence to be considered, in a case that is in its seventh day, but the virtual withdrawal of three important witnesses is proof of the difficulties of a trial in Ireland. The gardai have never been in doubt that the murder was committed in the course of an attempted IRA robbery, with IRA guns, but it may still be difficult to prove. The public, which showed its revulsion in the enormous crowds that attended Garda McCabe's funeral, will be appalled.
There was even an attempt by a former IRA gun-runner and Sinn Fein negotiator, Martin Ferris, to argue that anyone found guilty of the murder should be included in the early releases under the Good Friday agreement. Although this was rejected by the Irish Justice Minister, John O'Donoghue, who has assured angry gardai that a 40-year sentence is mandatory, it is evidence of the unashamed nature of contemporary republicanism.
It now seems that Andrew Hunter, the Tory MP who threatened to name suspects in the Omagh case, has been dissuaded by charges that he could interfere with the course of justice. Using parliamentary privilege in this way is always dangerous, especially so if those named are living in the Republic and could use their targeting to avoid extradition. Yet he has highlighted a perennial problem, the conspiracy of silence that descends in both the republican and loyalist communities when police appeal for co-operation, even when there is no sympathy for the perpetrators. The silence must be broken.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0931
Published Date: 20-Jan-99
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