Two more fishermen give evidence against Longford man charged with threats to kill

Two more fishermen have given evidence today in the Longford Circuit Court trial of Thomas McDermott.

The accused, with an address at 68 Cluain na Sidhe, pleaded not guilty to threatening to kill two fishermen on two separate dates in 2019.

This morning, Thomas Evans told the court that he has been fishing for 40 years and that on a date in early 2019, he was fishing on the canal at Killashee with his friend, Anthony Nicholson.

"I fish there regularly and I'd be regular to meeting people so I know the man and the dogs who walked past me," said Mr Evans.

"I always say hello and I've said it to this particular man a few times but this man never said hello back so you stop talking to that person."

The dogs, Mr Evans explained, are two springer spaniels, or "hunting dogs, as far as I know".

"They go into the water. He throws a stick in here and there. This man passes me often and he never throws the stick in beside me," said Mr Evans.

"But, on this day, me and Tony were yapping and he walked up to about three yards from Tony and he lobs the stick in and the dogs go in.

"Tony said something like 'can you not do that' - and I'm sorry for my language, ladies and gentlemen - he goes 'don't you talk to me you British b*stard, I own this canal and you don't, so don't you f*cking talk to me'.

"This man put a stick to Tony's face and said 'don't you f*cking speak to me, you British b*stard, you shouldn't be here'.

"So I put my rod down and I said 'oi, Tony are you alright? Are you alright?' And the man turned and walked away. I told Tony, when that man comes back, ignore him."

When asked by Shane Geraghty, barrister for the prosecution, Mr Evans told the court the man had an English accent but had said to Mr Nicholson, "I'm a f*cking Irishman".

"This man is seriously dangerous in my opinion," said Mr Evans.

"If you get a feeble old man on the bank and you hold a stick about three feet long and three inches wide to him… and he said at least twice 'you don't know what I'm f*cking capable of'.”

When asked to describe the appearance of the man, Mr Evans said he was "a big man" who "usually wears a camouflage jacket".

"I'd say he was six foot - a biggish build of a man and he was wearing a big jacket. He was a physically hefty man and Tony is a weak, little, fragile man," he said.

"After 15 or 20 minutes, the man came back with the dogs and he's talking to Tony again, saying 'You f*cking don't be here anymore'. Tony wasn't saying anything as far as I could hear.

"I got off my box and headed towards them and as I got closer, he walked by me and said 'you and your f*cking gay mate, don't ever be on this f*cking bank again'.

"I went down to Tony and he was very upset again. Tony has never gone back there. It's the fear."

In his cross-examination, defence barrister Gerard Groarke, asked Mr Evans if he had ever come across Mr Geoffrey Cooper, who gave evidence yesterday.

"Yes, one or two times. I've never fished with him but we talk about fishing spots," said Mr Evans.

"I don't fish but I understand there would be a good communication between fishermen saying where the fish are today or where the good spots are. Would you be involved in those kinds of messaging groups?" Mr Groarke asked.

"Not really but when you see people on the bank, you'd ask them," said Mr Evans.

"So after this incident happened, was that something you would have mentioned to other fishermen?" asked Mr Groarke.

"Yes. You wouldn't mention it to everyone but it can come up. You might just say be careful," Mr Evans replied.

Mr Groarke noted that Mr Evans didn't make a formal complaint on the day of the incident. But the witness confirmed he was contacted later in the year and asked to make a statement.

"I was fishing and Geoffrey Cooper pulled up and I said 'did you ever fish in Killashee?' and Geoffrey Cooper said he did but he hasn't been back there because he had a bad incident and I said 'so did we' and Geoff said he heard of a few people who were abused by this man," said Mr Evans.

"He said 'would you make a statement' and I said I would indeed. I said I'd ask Tony but Tony was afraid. I think Geoff took my number and he rang me and said a guard would ring me and would have a chat with me.

"I don't think Tony thought we'd be involved in a court case but I said whatever it takes because if someone got injured and I hadn't done whatever I could, I wouldn't be happy."

Mr Groarke noted that Mr Evans had been approached by Gda Thomas Killion while fishing on the bank in Kenagh on January 17, 2020, where a statement was taken.

Mr Evans had previously told the court he couldn't be sure of the exact date of the incident but Mr Groarke revealed that his statement to Gda Killion read 'on the 16th of February, 2019, I was fishing in Killashee'.

"I don't recollect why exactly the date was written down. We were trying to narrow it down," said Mr Evans.

"I sometimes write down in a diary where I was fishing and what I caught and I could've gone back through the diary."

"You said he was six foot and physically a hefty man," said Mr Groarke.

Mr Evans agreed but stressed that it was winter and “people look bigger” when wearing heavy clothing.

The description given to Gda Killion in his initial statement was that the man on the canal was five foot, eight inches tall, Mr Groarke reminded him.

"You also said he was of slim build," said Mr Groarke.

"I never thought he was of slim build," said Mr Evans.

"You never said the date was the 16th of February and you never said he was of slim build but this is what Gda Killion wrote down and what you signed," said Mr Groarke.

"Yeah," said Mr Evans.

Mr Geraghty, to clarify, asked Mr Evans if he had been given the opportunity to reread his witness statement, to which Mr Evans responded he had not.

Another fisherman, Anthony Nicholson, when asked by Mr Geraghty if he remembered the incident before the courts, told the court he has had "nightmares about it".

He explained that he cannot remember the exact date of the incident but that it was definitely before his birthday in April. He said that in the afternoon in question, at around 2pm, he was fishing in Killashee when a man with two dogs walked past.

"He was taller than me and I'm five foot eight. He was bigger than me and had quite a strong, powerful build," said Mr Nicholson.

"He threw a stick right next to where I was fishing and I said 'why have you thrown a stick in where I'm fishing and not further down?'.

"It was an awful thing. The dogs came out and he picked up the stick and said… do I have to swear? It's not very nice," he said.

When told by Judge Comerford that he has to tell the truth, Mr Nicholson continued with his evidence.

"He said 'don't tell me what to do, this is my canal,you f*cking English b*stard. I live here'. And I said I live in Ireland too," he said.

"I was very scared because I'm not a strong person and he was talking really nasty and dirty. He called me an f-ing English b*stard, and a Yorkshire c-word a couple of times.

"My friend fishing with me came over and he walked off with the dogs. I was terrified because he was a horrible looking man but he had an English accent, which threw me.

"He could have beaten me up and I think if Tony hadn't been there, he would've done. The way he was talking to me was nasty - really aggressive.

"It was terrifying - for me anyway, because I'd never come up against something like that. And he was cursing and swearing. It was disgusting.

"How anybody could be like that to someone who was just out there for pleasure, fishing… how anybody could give that kind of abuse… it was disgusting and terrifying.

"And when he came back, he came up to me and said 'if I see you again, I'll f*cking shoot you, you f*cking Yorkshire b*stard' and then Tommy came over and he walked off."

When asked by Mr Geraghty if he had said anything back to the man, Mr Nicholson said he had apologised.

"I said I'm sorry because I was hoping if I was nice to him he'd go away. I was hoping he'd just leave me alone," he said.

"But there was a reference to a gun," Mr Geraghty prompted.

"Yeah, he said he'd come back and shoot me. I was so scared. I'll never go back there again. It's not fair at my age to be threatened like that," Mr Nicholson replied.

Mr Groarke, again, chose to focus on the fishing community and its methods of communication when beginning his cross examination.

Mr Nicholson told Mr Groarke that he did not go out socialising with others after fishing but discussed fishing spots with others while he was out and about.

"If there's someone driving past, they'll stop and say how are you getting on and are you catching anything and it's really nice. It's really lovely," he said 

"Did you mention this incident to anyone?" asked Mr Groarke.

"Nobody. I didn't want to tell anybody else. It's not something you want to talk about," said Mr Nicholson.

He also confirmed that, following a conversation with Mr Evans later in the year, they both decided to make a statement because Mr Evans had heard that the same thing had happened to someone else.

Mr McDermott was arrested by Garda Thomas Killion for the purpose of interview on December 20, 2019, the court heard. He was conveyed to Longford Garda Station where he underwent questioning.

During interview, Mr McDermott told Gardaí that he recollected the alleged incident but stated that the allegations were “fabricated lies”. He also implied that the treatment of his family by Gardaí was “nothing but a witch hunt”.

Mr Groarke, when questioning Gda Killion in court, focused his questions on the fact that the statements he took from Mr Evans and Mr Nicholson put the date of the incident at February 16, 2019 but during evidence today, neither could be sure of the date. He also noted how the statement of Geoffrey Cooper read ‘I decided to look around Killashee’.

“Isn’t it perfectly ordinary for a guard to use slightly different language to what was actually said by the person?” he asked, hastening to add that there was “nothing untoward” in that.

Gda Killion confirmed that gardaí will sometimes write down different words rather than take the statement verbatim.

“You directed Mr Cooper as to where he should go but in his statement, he said ‘I decided to look around Killashee in an effort to identify the man’. You wrote that down. Is that a verbatim account?” asked Mr Groarke.

“I don’t exactly remember,” Gda Killion replied.

“At the time you were writing that down - December 19th, 2019, the day before you arrested Mr McDermott - you knew that Mr Cooper hadn’t ‘decided to look around Killashee’, because you had told him where to go,” said Mr Groarke.

“Can you explain why you allowed Mr Cooper’s statement to include a phrase that you knew to be incorrect?”

“When I met Geoffrey Cooper, I told him I had a suspect in mind, who he was, where he lived,” said Gda Killion.

“I showed him where he was living and said ‘if you’re in Killashee and you see him in that area, it would firm up my suspicion’.”

“Do you accept the phrase ‘I decided’ is not the whole truth?” asked Mr Groarke.

“I asked him to do it and he made the decision to do it. So I believe that’s correct,” said Gda Killion.

Moving on to the statement of Mr Evans, Mr Groarke noted that Gda Killion met Mr Evans and Mr Nicholson when they were fishing on the canal in Kenagh.

“His statement is very specific about the date the incident happened. He specifies very precisely the date,” said Mr Groarke.

“His evidence this morning is not only is he unclear today whether it was February, March or April, but that even when he gave you that statement, he wasn’t sure of the date.”

“I phoned him twice,” said Gda Killion, “and the first time he wasn’t sure of the date. When I rang him the second time, he had checked his diary and he came up with the date, February 16th, 2019.”

The trial continues tomorrow morning before Judge Francis Comerford and a jury of ten people.

Trial begins for Longford man charged with threatening to kill two men fishing on the canal