A garda who interviewed John Carthy at Granard Garda Station in September 1998 has denied that he abused, ill-treated, or assaulted the 27-year-old.
Garda Frank McHugh was appearing at the Barr Tribunal into the death of John Carthy at Abbeylara, County Longford. Mr Carthy was shot dead by gardaí at his home in April 2000.
Garda McHugh said he assisted Garda Turlough Bruen question John Carthy about the burning of a goat mascot in the village of Abbeylara. But he told the Tribunal today that he did not abuse or ill-treat him in any way.
Garda McHugh said the first he heard of an allegation of assault was when he was interviewed by the Culligan investigation team after the siege in Abbeylara.
He said John Carthy had made no complaints to him at any stage and when he met him on one occasion after the incident he had told John Carthy he had nothing to fear.
In response to questions from Mr Justice Robert Barr, Garda McHugh said he should have had his notebook with him and could have taken notes if he wanted to.
He said, on reflection, he did not take notes of what was said.
The person in charge of Granard Garda Station on the night of the arrest, Garda Frank Bohan, said John Carthy came in looking for a garda sometime prior to 7.30pm.
Garda Turlough Bruen had a conservation with Mr Carthy in the public room and later went outside the door and arrested him.
Later Frank Bohan said he had been informed that Garda David Martin from Smear had received reliable and confidential information that John Carthy had burned the mascot.
He told the Tribunal that when Mr Carthy was arrested he was agitated and denied his involvement in the burning at all times.
He denies that Mr Carthy's belt and boot lacings were taken from him in a bid to humiliate him.
Garda Bohan said he brought Mr Carthy to the cell in the Garda station where he removed his belt and boot lacings. He said this was standard procedure when placing a prisoner into a cell.
Under cross examination from counsel for the Carthy family, Garda Bohan agreed there was no evidence of a glass of water or a cup of tea either been requested or been given to Mr Carthy while he was in custody.
Garda Bohan admitted that he should have searched Mr Carthy when he came into the Garda station, having been initially arrested.
Further details were given to the tribunal this afternoon of analysis carried out on four blood samples from John Carthy after he was shot in Abbeylara.
Helen Cross, senior bio-chemist at Beaumont hospital said there was no ethanol or alcohol present in the samples though this did not mean Mr Carthy had not been drinking. She said it was unlikely he had been drinking a substantial amount of alcohol prior his death as these tests on his blood would have picked up something.
Siobhan Stokes from the state laboratory in Abbotstown said she carried out further tests on blood samples sent to her by Beaumont hospital in Dublin. She found levels of an anti-depressant drug to be in the high end of the therapeutic range in Mr Carthy's blood sample.
Before the conclusion of today's sitting of the tribunal, it emerged that John Carthy went missing from a ward at university college hospital in Galway in January of 1999 where he was been treated for psychiatric illness.
Dr Dymphna Gibbons said he was reported missing at 10.30pm on 4 January having last been seen in the ward he was in at 8.30pm Mr Carthy turned up at 10.40pm.
Dr Gibbons said there he denied any intake of alcohol and said he was visiting his sister. He requested to be moved back into the day hospital in Galway and to be discharged as he said he wanted to get back to work.
Dr Gibbons said the gardaí in Long ford and Galway were notified of his disappearance although she could not remember who rang the gardaí.
