THE AERIAL PHOTO, A COFFEE CHAT AND A HARSH GRILLING
YESTERDAY’S evidence in the trial of Patrick Quirke focused on a conversation, on Monday morning, in the coffee dock on the second floor of the Criminal Courts of Justice.
The trial of Mr Quirke was taking place two floors up in court number 13 and several gardaí from Tipperary were due to give evidence.
As they waited to be called to testify, the group, several of whom had travelled to Dublin by train that morning, settled in to a table in the corner. Among them was Garda John O’Connor, who was now on the stand being asked to explain what the group was talking about.
‘Did you go to the coffee shop yesterday [Monday]?’ asked Lorcan Staines SC for the defence.
‘Yes,’ replied the witness, ‘yesterday morning.’
There was a bunch of gardaí sitting together, he explained to the court. They were ‘just sitting having coffee’ and there were some folders on the table. Some members were chatting, several were on their phones and others were stepping in and out for a cigarette. After a while, Sergeant Cathal Godfrey, the officer who had led the search of the Lowry farmlands in 2011, ‘produced a photo’.
‘What photo did he produce?’ asked Mr Staines, SC for the defence.
‘It was an overhead one,’ said Garda O’Connor.
A conversation ensued, said the witness. Garda Tom Finnan ‘mentioned something about round bales’. The witness was on his phone, he said, and he wasn’t really listening.
Lorcan Staines SC continued. Who spoke next? What did they say?
The witness didn’t recall. He wasn’t part of the conversation.
There was a change in tone as Mr Staines continued. He wanted the witness to tell the jury what they teach members in the Garda Training College in Templemore about discussing evidence among themselves prior to testimony.
Such practice, said Mr Staines, is ‘totally impermissible’ for gardaí. ‘You wouldn’t do that,’ he added. ‘Have you ever discussed evidence prior to testimony?’ he asked. ‘No,’ replied the witness. Garda Finnan was also in the coffee shop on Monday morning. He was one of eight gardaí who searched Mary Lowry’s farm in the days after Bobby Ryan’s disappearance.
As a result of what he saw in the coffee shop, he made his way down to the bottom floor of the Criminal Courts of Justice and asked a member of the court staff to type up a statement.
‘You made two statements?’ ssked Bernard Condon, SC for the defence. ‘Yes,’ replied Garda Finnan. One was made in May 2013 after the body had been discovered, he explained.
‘When was second made?’ asked Mr Condon. ‘Yesterday,’ he replied. Garda Finnan said he had only realised the exact location of the tank where the body was found after seeing an aerial photo of Mary Lowry’s farm in the coffee shop.
He originally thought the body was found in an open slurry pit on the farm, which is in an entirely different location. In his new statement, made on Monday, he described seeing ‘ten to 15 bales’ about 5ft high and wrapped in black plastic, stacked in the area where Bobby Ryan’s body was discovered. It was raining heavily on the search and he recalled seeing rain ‘pelting off the plastic’.
‘You didn’t see the tank on day of the search?’ queried Mr Condon. ‘That is correct,’ said the witness. ‘Were you shown a photo?’ asked Mr Condon. ‘No. I asked to see it,’ he replied. ‘Where?’ asked Mr Condon. ‘In the coffee shop,’ replied Garda Finnan.
There were several other members present, he explained, including Garda O’Connor and Garda Morrissey.
The issue of the aerial photo, of where it came from and why it was produced, took up some time in evidence.
‘So where was it [the photo] in the coffee dock?’ Asked Bernard Condon, SC for the defence. ‘Stapled to a wall?’ he added, scornfully.
‘On the table,’ replied the witness, adding that he asked Sgt Godrey if he could have a look at it.
‘You just unilaterally sat down and opened his folder?’ asked Mr Condon. ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘How did you know he had a photo?’ asked Mr Condon.
‘I asked him if he had an aerial photo,’ replied the witness.
Garda Finnan told the court that he was ‘unhappy’ about where he ‘envisaged’ the remains had been found. He wanted to look at the photo for clarity.
‘I knew I hadn’t seen the tank where the tank had been portrayed,’ he said.
‘Portrayed by who?’ asked Mr Condon.
‘I suppose by the media,’ replied the garda.
HE had seen a report on a news broadcast on TV ‘last Friday week’ which featured aerial footage of the back of the farm and this footage had caused him to feel unhappy.
Despite his unease, he didn’t go to anyone, he told the court. He realised his error on Monday after seeing the aerial picture produced by Sgt Godfrey. ‘I got the location of the tank incorrect,’ he said.
As the scene from the coffee dock was dissected further, Michael Bowman SC, for the prosecution, rose to his feet.
‘How do you normally pass the time in between giving evidence? he asked the witness.
‘We talk,’ said Garda Finnan, wiping his brow with a tissue.
‘We are all living in the real world here – is there much talk in Tipperary locally about this case?’ asked Mr Bowman. ‘Huge,’ said the witness. ‘Is it being followed locally?’ ‘Hugely,’ said Garda Finnan. He told Mr Bowman that there was nothing ‘organised’ between gardaí in the coffee shop and they did not share their statements. Would there be, asked Mr Bowman, any possibility gardaí were ‘dreaming up’ evidence in the coffee dock on Monday?
‘None,’ came the reply.