The first criminal trial connected with the McBrearty affair has begun at Sligo Circuit Court. Bernard Conlon of Sligo has pleaded not guilty to three charges of making false statements to Gardaí alleging that another person threatened to kill him.
Opening the prosecution case, Paul O'Higgins SC said that this was not a simple case of the Gardai being misled because, sadly, some Gardai not only participated in what happened but were the prime movers behind it.
Mr Higgins SC said that Mr Conlon had been annoyed over an incident which happened at Frank McBrearty's nightclub, Frankies, in Raphoe. He said that Mr Conlon later entered in to an arrangement with a Garda designed to catch the McBreartys for a licensing laws offence.
He said that matters took a sinister turn, when, in an effort to buttress the wider agenda against the McBrearty family, a much deeper and nastier plot was suggested by Gardaí and put in to effect by Mr Conlon.
Mr Higgins SC then claimed that two men - Mark McConnell, a nephew of Mr McBrearty and a Mr Peoples, an associate of Mr McBrearty - had called to Mr Conlon's door in Sligo with a silver bullet and threatened to kill him.
Mr McConnell and Mr Peoples were subsequently arrested and questioned for 48 hours and 39 hours respectively but were never charged with any offence.
In evidence today, Mark McConnell denied ever being at Mr Conlon's house or threatening him. He said that the first time he ever saw him was when Bernard Conlon identified him at Letterkenny District Court.
