Free Cocaine Wars by Mick McCaffrey Page B

O’Reilly was only seventeen at the time of the murder and when he was interviewed on 20 September, he refused to make a statement or say whether he was or was not at the house party in the Rattigans’. He was arrested six days later, and an adult was present at Terenure Garda Station during each interview. He said that he had previously been ‘moked’ (arrested), with Joey Rattigan and Shane Maloney. He confirmed that he was at Joey’s birthday party, but claimed he couldn’t remember much. He answered ‘don’t know’ to most questions and said that he smokes ‘a reefer or two’ of hash a day, and that he couldn’t remember most things, although he was going to give up the smoking. After Gardaí had interviewed others present at the party, they knew that O’Reilly wasn’t being truthful. Detective Superintendent Denis Donegan obtained a warrant for his rearrest on 31 October 2001. O’Reilly’s mother was present during his interrogation at Crumlin Garda Station. She urged him to tell the truth. He said that he was at the house party in Karl Kavanagh’s after the murder, and that they were listening to the radio when ‘Something came on the news about a man stabbed at the shopping centre. Everybody went quiet. There was a bit of panic, and somebody said that we have to get rid of the car.’ He volunteered to burn Shane Maloney’s car, and drove it the morning after the murder, but would not name his companion. He said he burnt out the Nissan Micra somewhere in Tallaght. He said he bought a bottle of orange, emptied it, and filled it with petrol to burn the car. After the job was completed, he said he and his unnamed friend went back to the Kavanaghs’.
    The next day, Mark O’Reilly returned voluntarily to Sundrive Road Garda Station with his mother. He said that what he had told Gardaí the previous day was ‘all lies. I just wanted to go home.’
    Greg Bourke originally told Gardaí that he was at Joey Rattigan’s party from 9.30 p.m. until 2.00 a.m., at the latest. He went to his house and fell asleep afterwards and did not wake up until the following morning. Sergeant Colm Fox arrested him on 27 September. Bourke eventually said that he went to the Kavanagh house party at about 1.30 a.m. At around 2.30 a.m. Karl Kavanagh and Kenneth Clare went out to Abrakebabra to get food. They came back with Shane Maloney and John Roche, who told the group that there had been a slagging match with Declan Gavin. Bourke said that the row ‘got very personal’. He said that somebody then called to the house and Shane Maloney left. He returned at 5.00 a.m. with Brian Rattigan. Bourke said that he left the house at 8.20 a.m. and ‘went for a walk to clear my head’. On 31 October Detective Superintendent Denis Donegan obtained a warrant for Bourke’s re-arrest, and he was detained the following morning. While in custody, he said that while he was at the Rattigans’, Shane Maloney, Karl Kavanagh, John Roche and Kenneth Clare went to Abrakebabra. When they got back, he went with them to Karl Kavanagh’s house. While there, he learned of the dispute that John Roche and Shane Maloney had with Declan Gavin. He said that Brian Rattigan, Joey Redmond, Shane Maloney and John Roche left Kavanagh’s ‘from quarter to three on’, and when they returned, ‘Brian had stabbed Deco.’ When the group got back, around two hours later, he did not see any of them bleeding or wearing blood-stained clothes. After hearing on the 7.00 a.m. news that Gavin was dead, ‘Brian said to Shane to get rid of the car’, and ‘Mark [O’Reilly] and Karl [Kavanagh] went with him [to do this].’ When the three men returned later, Bourke walked home. He told Gardaí that both Brian Rattigan and Shane Maloney had approached him since his first arrest to find out what he had said, and that John Roche and Joey