A garda has told the Central Criminal Court she was wrong to have described Mary Lowry as angry when she was not allowed to be present in the same room as her young sons while they were being interviewed.
Garda Fiona Conneely said she used the word "angry" when she filed her report to the team investigating the death of Bobby Ryan in 2013. But she said "upset" would have been a better word to use about Ms Lowry's demeanour.
Garda Conneely is one of two specialist gardaí giving evidence in the trial of 50-year-old Patrick Quirke from Breanshamore in Co Tipperary, who denies the murder of Mr Ryan.
Mr Ryan went missing in June 2011 and his body was found in a run-off tank at his Ms Lowry's farm at Fawnagowan in April 2013.
Mr Quirke was leasing the farm at the time and had previously had an affair with Ms Lowry, who was in a relationship with Mr Ryan.
Garda Conneely told the court she was specially trained to take statements from children under the age of 14.
This would involve chatting with them to build up a rapport before taking an initial "clarification statement". If there were disclosures made at this stage, then the statement would be recorded and videoed.
She said she went to Ms Lowry's home in July 2013 to meet the three Lowry children.
She said she took a statement from the eldest child, but there were no disclosures forthcoming from the two younger children.
Before talking to the younger children she had to get parental consent from Ms Lowry, but she said Ms Lowry was upset that she would not be allowed to be present in the same room while the children were talking to gardaí.
She said she explained the procedure and Ms Lowry subsequently gave her consent.
Under cross-examination from Senior Counsel Lorcan Staines, for Mr Quirke, Garda Conneely said Ms Lowry was "unhappy and upset".
The garda said she had used the word "angry" in her report to the incident room, but in hindsight that was probably the wrong word to use.
She said Ms Lowry was flustered and red in the face, but did not express anger.
Asked why she had used the word angry in an important report and then changed her description when she came to court, the garda said she had drafted the report on the day, but decided the word was unfair when she was questioned about it in court.
She said she knew her report to the incident room would be disclosed to the defence.
Another specialist child interviewer Garda Sharon Maloney said the word "angry" was a strong word and in hindsight she believed Ms Lowry was "a little bit upset" when it was pointed out that she could not be present.
Asked why she signed off on the report written by her colleague, which used the word "angry", Garda Maloney said she did not put too much weight on the word or did not read into every word of the report at the time.
Both Garda Conneely and Garda Maloney told Mr Staines that they had been given a list of suggested questions to ask one of Ms Lowry's children. They said the questions were to be used as a guide during the interview.
Mr Staines said it appeared that a number of the questions given to them by the investigation team had not been asked or if they had, the answers had not been recorded.
Those questions included:
"Would you or your brothers ever play or mess around slurry tanks?"
"Would you or your brothers be allowed to play around farmyard sheds or slurry tanks?"
"Would your mother have known the tank was there?"
"Would you have been told to stay away from the tank, like the others, and by whom?"
"Do you ever remember your mother working on the farm?"
Garda Conneely said it would be fair to assume the questions had not been asked if the answers were not recorded in the statement.
Garda Maloney said that specialist interviewers were not part of the investigation team and the questions were given only as a guideline. She said when interviewing a child the conversation "had to be allowed to flow".
Mr Staines said the child was asked about the tank and said he was aware it was there but not what it was used for, or how big it was.
Mr Staines asked: "Sure, the obvious next question is who else knew or did Mary Lowry know about the tank?"
Garda Maloney said she could not explain why the question was not asked at the time. Mr Staines asked if it was possible the question was asked. Garda Maloney said if it was asked and if it was answered it would have been put into the statement.
Earlier, the jury heard that partial fingerprints found on items taken from the van of Mr Ryan did not match the accused, Mr Quirke.
Detective Garda Fiona Maguire told the court she took a number of finger marks and a palm mark from a diary and a driver's licence, which was taken from Mr Ryan's van after it was found at Bansha Woods when he disappeared.
Garda Maguire said in 2013 she put the finger marks through the national data base but found no match. She agreed it was not until last week she was given a set of so-called "elimination prints" against which to test those she had found.
She tested them against a number of people who would have had contact with Mr Ryan. Some of the prints matched Mr Ryan's daughter, Michelle, while another mark could not be identified, she said.
Detective Garda Ernie Fraser told the court that in 2012 he took a number of fingerprints from an aftershave bottle and the driver's door of Mr Ryan's van, but was not given any suspects' prints against which to compare them as it was a missing person's investigation.
Earlier this year, he was given a set of seven prints against which to compare the prints from the van. He found they did not match the accused or any of the other elimination prints.
Asked by Mr Staines how it was possible that a set of elimination prints were available from 2013, but no request was made for testing until earlier this year, he replied that if no request was made by the investigation team they would not do the comparative tests if they were unaware of the elimination prints.
He also said he was not aware that his presence at the trial was at the request of the defence.
In re-examination, he agreed with prosecuting counsel that the timelapse would not affect the result of the tests.
