CIVIL TRIAL TO CALL SUSPECT'S FORMER WIFE
Civil trial to call suspect's former wife
Defence lawyers are to call the ex-wife of an Omagh bomb suspect to give evidence at the multi-million pound civil trial in Belfast, it has been revealed.
Seamus McKenna's legal team confirmed they want to cross-examine his former partner, Catherine, about her interviews with detectives hunting the terrorists behind the atrocity.
Brian Fee QC was also granted permission to seek to have Terence Patrick Morgan, a former associate of Mr McKenna's, put in the witness box.
Both will be contacted and asked to attend the landmark action, where relatives of some of the 29 people killed in the Real IRA attack are seeking damages from five men they hold responsible.
Although neither of them are compelled to turn up, subpoenas could then be issued as part of the proceedings.
The marathon High Court case has already heard police transcripts of questioning sessions with both potential witnesses.
At one stage Catherine McKenna allegedly lied to detectives about phone contact she had with her former husband less than an hour after the attack on Omagh.
According to a detective who gave evidence earlier in the trial she gave a false account of being in Galway on August 15 when the bomb went off.
Mrs McKenna could give no explanation for the contact, but told police it was not to talk about the strike on Omagh.
She also described him as a drunkard who rarely contacted his family when sober, the transcripts disclosed.
Lawyers also want to cross-examine Morgan, too, about his police interviews, where it was claimed he falsely signed McKenna in as being at work on the day of the atrocity.
The court has heard further allegations that Morgan, who worked as a foreman for Colm Murphy - another of the five men being sued - lent his mobile phone to his boss the day before the bombing.
And a further claim to emerge from the police transcripts involved Morgan saying he was teasingly accused by Seamus Daly, a third defendant in the civil action, of driving the car packed with explosives to the scene of the blast.
It was alleged Daly drunkenly made the taunts in a bar on the night of the bombing.
Barristers representing Daly and Murphy confirmed they want to question Morgan as well, about the statements he made to police, before later retracting.
The five men named in the civil action, who also include convicted Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt and Liam Campbell, all deny responsibility.
The judge hearing the case has emphasised the need for all possible evidence to be submitted in open court.
Mr. Justice Morgan said: "This is a public trial, and it seems to me that the public are entitled to know about the material evidence. I find it difficult to accept the proposition in this trial that because it was produced in another trial, it should be taken as read."
Defence lawyers are to call the ex-wife of an Omagh bomb suspect to give evidence at the multi-million pound civil trial in Belfast, it has been revealed.
Seamus McKenna's legal team confirmed they want to cross-examine his former partner, Catherine, about her interviews with detectives hunting the terrorists behind the atrocity.
Brian Fee QC was also granted permission to seek to have Terence Patrick Morgan, a former associate of Mr McKenna's, put in the witness box.
Both will be contacted and asked to attend the landmark action, where relatives of some of the 29 people killed in the Real IRA attack are seeking damages from five men they hold responsible.
Although neither of them are compelled to turn up, subpoenas could then be issued as part of the proceedings.
The marathon High Court case has already heard police transcripts of questioning sessions with both potential witnesses.
At one stage Catherine McKenna allegedly lied to detectives about phone contact she had with her former husband less than an hour after the attack on Omagh.
According to a detective who gave evidence earlier in the trial she gave a false account of being in Galway on August 15 when the bomb went off.
Mrs McKenna could give no explanation for the contact, but told police it was not to talk about the strike on Omagh.
She also described him as a drunkard who rarely contacted his family when sober, the transcripts disclosed.
Lawyers also want to cross-examine Morgan, too, about his police interviews, where it was claimed he falsely signed McKenna in as being at work on the day of the atrocity.
The court has heard further allegations that Morgan, who worked as a foreman for Colm Murphy - another of the five men being sued - lent his mobile phone to his boss the day before the bombing.
And a further claim to emerge from the police transcripts involved Morgan saying he was teasingly accused by Seamus Daly, a third defendant in the civil action, of driving the car packed with explosives to the scene of the blast.
It was alleged Daly drunkenly made the taunts in a bar on the night of the bombing.
Barristers representing Daly and Murphy confirmed they want to question Morgan as well, about the statements he made to police, before later retracting.
The five men named in the civil action, who also include convicted Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt and Liam Campbell, all deny responsibility.
The judge hearing the case has emphasised the need for all possible evidence to be submitted in open court.
Mr. Justice Morgan said: "This is a public trial, and it seems to me that the public are entitled to know about the material evidence. I find it difficult to accept the proposition in this trial that because it was produced in another trial, it should be taken as read."
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/1968
Published Date: 02-Oct-08
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