A field in Co Meath holds horrific memories for a young Dublin woman.
It is at Ballymacan, close to the Louth border, that Marie Gallagher found her brother’s body in July 2014.
Paul Gallagher, a 26-year-old father of one, had been murdered – shot in the back and neck. His body wasn’t found until two days after the killing.
In recent days, Marie travelled back to Ballymacan, to the site of where she found her younger brother’s body.
"Paul was clearly running, because of the way he was lying here. We all knew he was mid-run," Marie told Prime Time.
"So how many people were chasing him? The fear must have been absolutely… I don’t think there is a word."
Seven years after the murder, only one person has ever been charged in connection with the case. And last week he was given a six-month jail sentence for withholding information.
Seán Barrett, a 33-year old from Donaghmede in Dublin, had pleaded guilty to withholding information between July 2014 and June 2015.
Specifically, he failed to tell Gardaí, when first interviewed as a witness, that he knew the first names of two men who had travelled with himself and Paul to the location at Ballymacan that fateful night.
Originally, he had indeed told officers that he and Paul had driven from Donaghmede to Tullyallen in Co Louth, where two other men also got into his Volkswagen Golf. The four of them, he said, then drove a further 12km to the field at Ballymacan.
He told gardaí that he and Paul had earlier discussed "robbing chip vans". However, Mr Barrett lied when he told gardaí in his original statement that he didn’t know anything about either of the men who got into the back of his car at Tullyallen.
It was only when arrested 11 months later on suspicion of withholding information that Mr Barrett eventually told detectives that he knew the "Christian" names of both men. He furthermore told them that he had previously driven Paul to meet with one of the men at a property in Co Louth.
"Had this information been given at the time of the murder, the gardaí could have got search warrants to get information about those people", Marie told Prime Time.
Her mother Ger, who attended every single court appearance of Seán Barrett, has a clear message.
"Had Seán Barrett given the information in a timely manner, we might be sitting in the High Court in Dublin with a murder trial," she said.
"The person or persons who murdered Paul so callously that night are still roaming around – and who’s to say they won’t do the same again?"
Ger and Marie Gallagher spoke to Prime Time over the course of several months. Since both women were listed as witnesses in Seán Barrett’s case, it is only now that they can speak publicly.
Back in July 2014, Mr Barrett had called to Ger’s home in Donaghmede the day after he, Paul and the other two men had driven to the field in Ballymacan.
But he never told Ger where he had last seen Paul, and asked her if she had heard from Paul. She told Mr Barrett that she hadn’t.
The following day, Ger rang Mr Barrett and asked him to come to her home, since she still hadn’t heard from Paul.
"He told me he needed to talk to me and the gardaí. He told Prime Time he had dropped Paul at a field. He stayed in the car, he said. He said he heard gunshots and someone scream. That’s what he told me."
At last week’s sentencing of Seán Barrett at Trim Circuit Court, it emerged in evidence that Seán Barrett had not actually waited in the car as he first described to Ger.
He told gardaí that he had gotten out of the car, and that one of the other men had told him to walk ahead and keep lookout. At some point shortly afterwards, he said, he heard a gunshot, a scream, and three more gunshots.
The afternoon that Mr Barrett first told Ger about going to the field in Ballymacan was two days after he and Paul had driven there.
Paul’s sister Marie and his brother Alan then travelled with Seán Barrett to Co Meath that same afternoon to look for Paul.
The journey was surreal. Marie didn’t know Mr Barrett, had never met him before, and he was now directing her where to drive to a field 60km from Donaghmede.
Marie pulled up at a 160-acre farm at Ballymacan and, for the first time, met Mary Power, a farmer who in time would become good friends with the Gallagher family.
Marie said her brother was missing and asked if they could search the lands. Mary said they could but that she would also alert the gardaí in case any assistance was required.
Shortly after arriving at the farm, Marie and Alan found their brother’s body.
Seán Barrett would not go up to where Paul’s body lay. Paul was found lying face down close to a fence on a track at the side of a field.
For two nights and two days, Paul’s body had lain in the field.
The farmer had not been on that part of the farm, since they were weaning lambs and were leaving them to settle in that area.
On a Wednesday in July 2014, as a murder investigation began, this remote and normally peaceful part of Co Meath became a scene of intense garda activity.
Nine people were arrested as part of the murder investigation, including one man who was held on suspicion of murder.
A file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions – but no murder charge followed.
The only person ever charged was Seán Barrett, who was arrested on suspicion of withholding information.
He was charged with that offence in 2017.
The following year, the charge was dropped following a High Court ruling in a separate case regarding the law on withholding information.
In 2019, when the Supreme Court upheld the legislation, Seán Barrett was once again charged.
A trial that was set for October 2020 could not proceed due to Covid-19, and a fresh trial date was set for June 2021.
Prevented by their witness summonses from speaking in detail about the case, the Gallaghers last month got the dramatic news that Seán Barrett was pleading guilty to the charge.
Ger and Marie travelled once again from Donaghmede to Trim to watch Mr Barrett admit his guilt. Last Friday, he was given a sentence of two years, with the last 18 months suspended. He had been out on bail until last Friday.
Sentencing Mr Barrett, Judge Patrick Quinn accepted that fear was the reason he had withheld information in the case.
It was only at the sentencing hearing that the Gallagher family heard that people from the Drogheda area were people of interest in the investigation.
And, for the first time, they learned that Mr Barrett had waited until 11 months after the murder before telling detectives he and Paul had previously travelled to a property in Co Louth to meet one of the men who had subsequently travelled with them to Ballymacan the night Paul was murdered.
Detective Sergeant Raymond Smith told the court that the information would have been helpful to the investigation if it had been proffered sooner.
For the Gallagher family, normal life continues in the most abnormal of circumstances.
Paul’s grandmother Kay, who is now 91 years old, received the first dose of her Covid-19 vaccination on the day before Mr Barrett pleaded guilty.
Kay told Prime Time that her grandson was killed by a coward with a gun in his hand.
"Since 2014, my daughter and her family have spent seven years looking for justice for Paul’s death," she said.
"By Seán Barrett’s silence, this young man caused Ger and her family mental torture, and cost the taxpayers seven years of Garda hours and four years of legal hours and costs. My daughter is entitled to closure, but she may never get justice because of his silence."
For now, the murder investigation continues.
One important line of enquiry relates to a Blue Subaru Impreza that was seen in that area of Co Meath on the night of the murder.
Gardaí are convinced there are people who still have information on those responsible for the murder and are appealing to people to contact Navan Garda station on (046) 903 6100.
If the Garda investigation does not progress, the Gallagher family will seek an inquest.
They still do not know if Paul died instantly or lay dying for some time in the field.
At the field where Paul was found, Mary Power joined Ger and Marie this week in an appeal for information.
The Powers and the Gallaghers have become good friends, and Paul’s family have often visited the location where his body was found.
Mary told Prime Time how the murder had deeply affected her late mother and father.
Ger said they will not rest until they get justice. Having waited seven years to be allowed to speak out, the Gallaghers have a lot to say.
"You lie awake at night wondering. You know, you don’t get a night’s sleep in circumstances like this when your son is taken this way," she said.
"I would appeal to anybody who has any info. No matter how small they think it is, it may have a huge impact on the investigation," she told Prime Time, while standing at the precise spot where Paul was found dead.
Because of a heatwave, it was 27C that July. There were a series of super moons, and Paul’s body was left out in the elements.
"With the delay in finding Paul, we couldn’t have an open coffin for family and loved ones," Ger said.
"To say a final goodbye, we brought Paul home – but it was a closed coffin."
Watch Barry Cummins’ report on Prime Time tonight at 9:35pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.
