On 29 September 2001, Shane Maloney called to Sundrive Road Garda Station with his father and a solicitor. Detective Sergeants Joe O’Hara and Peter O’Boyle invited the three men into the station, and the group went into an interview room. Shane Maloney told the detectives that he had nothing to discuss with them and knew nothing about Declan Gavin’s murder. His solicitor then intervened and said his client was not going into an interview involving questions and answers. The interview was then suspended and the three men left the station. While Shane Maloney was walking away from the Garda station, Joe O’Hara arrested him on suspicion of Declan Gavin’s murder. During his interview, Maloney repeatedly said that he had nothing to say, or ‘I can’t remember’, to most questions. When witness statements placing him outside Abrakebabra were read to him, he said they ‘must be mistaken’ and denied having driven a 92 or 93 D registered silver-coloured Nissan Micra. He was shown a picture of the burnt-out getaway car used in the murder, and claimed he did not know whether it was his or not. ‘Youse have me car now,’ he said. During this first interview, he spoke privately with his solicitor on the telephone. During his second round of questions, he became violent and aggressive in front of Detective Garda Barry Butler and Garda Paul Lynch, shouting: ‘I told you everything I know. What’s your problem? I have nothing to say to you, Lynch.’ Paul Lynch knew Maloney well from his years patrolling the Crumlin and Drimnagh area. Maloney then calmed down and refused to answer most questions, and twice said: ‘I didn’t do anything wrong.’ When he was interviewed for the third time, he repeated the mantra ‘I have nothing to say.’ Just prior to being released, he agreed to provide a blood sample. After being freed, Maloney was immediately re-arrested for an unrelated bench warrant. He was taken to Dublin District Court the following day, where he was given bail.
On 3 October 2001, John Roche was arrested at his home in Kilworth Road by Joe O’Hara and taken to Sundrive Road Garda Station. Prior to being interviewed, Roche spoke with his solicitor by telephone, and was visited by his brother Noel, a well-known twenty-three-year-old criminal who was centrally involved in the feud. When he was asked about Joey Rattigan’s eighteenth birthday party, Roche said that he knew ‘nothing about any party’. He said he could not remember where he was on 25 August, when the murder took place, and could not remember going to Abrakebabra on that date. When several witness statements were read to him, which pointed to him being at the restaurant, John Roche said they ‘must be lying or something’. He said he couldn’t remember ever being in Shane Maloney’s Micra. He denied ever calling Declan Gavin ‘a rat’ outside Abrakebabra. During an interview later in the day, Roche told Gardaí that he had memory loss and was innocent of all the allegations being made against him. He said he did not know Shane Maloney and had never even heard of Cooley Road. He also denied knowing Karl Kavanagh or his sister Catherine. He also claimed not to have known Declan Gavin, ‘but I think he was stabbed at Abrakebabra, wasn’t he?’ Gardaí asked him how long he had suffered from memory loss. Predictably, ‘I can’t remember’, was his reply, and he could not detail any other occasion when he forgot things. Roche was a pro when it came to brushing off Garda questioning. He told officers that he couldn’t remember anything at all, but if he did he would be sure to tell his solicitor. He was released without charge that evening.
By the beginning of October, Gardaí had gone through the hundreds of witness statements they had taken and were not satisfied with the co-operation of a number of witnesses, especially some of those present at Abrakebabra. Gardaí believed that at least six eyewitnesses had vital information about the murder after seeing events first-hand, so it was necessary to make arrests. A total of six witnesses were arrested during the Garda investigation. All were detained under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act 1998, for offences contrary to Section 9 of the Act: ‘Having failed, without reasonable excuse to disclose to Gardaí information in their possession which would have been of material assistance in securing the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of a person for a serious offence (involving loss of human life).’ Gardaí knew that some of these witnesses were probably intimidated by members of the Rattigan gang to make sure they stayed quiet, and there was little doubt that they were all afraid, but detectives felt there was no other option.
John Malone had spoken to Brian Rattigan just seconds before the murder, so he was one of the most important potential witnesses. On 10 October 2001, Detective Sergeant Joe O’Hara arrested Malone at Cathal Brugha Barracks. During his five interviews, Malone claimed that he had been recently abducted by two armed men wearing balaclavas while out jogging near his home. He said that he was threatened and knew that the people were involved in Declan Gavin’s murder, but he would not name them or even make a complaint about the ‘abduction’. Malone confirmed that he knew Shane Maloney, John Roche and Joey Redmond, but swore he didn’t see them outside Abrakebabra on the night of the murder. After a visit from his parents, Malone had a change of attitude. He agreed that the Micra was owned by Shane Maloney, and that Joey Redmond was also in the back seat. He then stated that Brian Rattigan was in the front passenger seat and that he wore a balaclava and had a knife, and that he was the man who had stabbed Declan Gavin. However, he refused to sign the memorandum of the interview. Malone told Gardaí that he feared the people who murdered Declan Gavin would come after him, because they knew who he was. He admitted that the supposed abduction never actually happened, and said that he made up the story because: ‘I thought you’d let me out if I said I was threatened.’ He confirmed that he had not been threatened, but he would not go on the record and name Rattigan as the killer, because he was ‘not a rat’. John Malone’s parents were present during the interview where he named Brian Rattigan and they agreed to give statements to Gardaí. John Malone’s mother confirmed that her son told Gardaí that Brian Rattigan had a knife and had stabbed Declan Gavin. John Malone’s father gave a statement recalling his son naming Rattigan as having stabbed Gavin, Shane Maloney as having driven the Nissan Micra and Joey Redmond as being in the back of the car. When this was put to John Malone, he said he would not sign his interview notes. He said that he would not go to court and that if he did, he would say that he lied during his Garda interview and that his parents were also lying about what they had heard him say. He was released without charge.
James Fullam from Crumlin had driven from Finglas with his friends. In his original interview on the morning after the murder, he told Gardaí that he had seen the knife-man get out of the car and run back into it, but he had not actually witnessed the stabbing itself. Detective Sergeant Peter O’Boyle detained Fullam at his home at around 8.00 a.m. on 12 October 2001. During his detention, Fullam spoke of witnessing the incident, and said: ‘It looked as though Declan Gavin had put his hand up and deflected the knife.’ He then described a secondary attack at the door of Abrakebabra, during which Gavin appeared to be having trouble getting through the front door and appeared to have been stabbed again. He said that after the incident he gave John Malone and Andrew Murray a lift home. He said that someone in the car, ‘I don’t want to say who’, said that Brian Rattigan was the man who stabbed ‘Deco’ Gavin. He said that the day after the stabbing he met with a number of people at Poddle Park in Crumlin, where the incident was discussed. Brian Rattigan’s name was mentioned as the knife-man, but Fullam said he wasn’t sure who said it.
Detective Sergeant Seán Grennan arrested Justin Beatty at his home on the morning of 12 October, and he was taken to Sundrive Road Garda Station. Beatty said that he knew John Roche and Shane Maloney but hadn’t seen them arguing with Declan Gavin during the initial verbal row outside Abrakebabra. He conceded that he knew more about the incident than he had initially told Gardaí but said he was ‘not a rat... There’s nothing lower than a rat.’ He also stated: ‘The fella that did this already killed someone. What’s to stop him killing me?’ Beatty said that he had since spoken to John Malone about the incident and the events leading up to
it, and Malone told him who the knife-man was. Beatty didn’t want to tell Gardaí his name but gave his initials – BR. ‘You know who he is. He was arrested for it wasn’t he?’ Justin Beatty went on to identify himself from CCTV stills captured at the scene, and described seeing John Malone speaking to a passenger in the Nissan Micra. Brian Rattigan then got out of the car and pulled a balaclava over his face. He was carrying a knife, Beatty said, while Joey Redmond got out after him. Rattigan then ran at Gavin, who ‘wouldn’t run away. He’d never do that.’ He didn’t see the actual stabbing but said that Joey Redmond was standing at the Nissan Micra, ‘making sure no one went for Brian Rattigan’. He named the four occupants of the Micra as: Shane Maloney, Brian Rattigan, Joey Redmond and John Roche, and described where each man was sitting. He said this off the record and wouldn’t include it in his statement as he feared for his life because: ‘I seen what they were capable of.’
Andrew Murray, the soldier, was re-arrested on 23 October. During his detention at Crumlin Garda Station, Murray said he was ‘not naming names’, even though he knew them, because he was afraid for his life. He confirmed to Gardaí that he knew Declan Gavin well. He agreed that he had previously told Gardaí, off the record, that Brian Rattigan had carried out the stabbing, and that Joey Redmond and Shane Maloney were also involved. He said he would not go to court and did not care about his army oath ‘to protect the state and all that’. He claimed that Brian Rattigan did not threaten him, but refused to say if anyone else did.
Gardaí believed that roughly ninety minutes remained unaccounted for before Shane Maloney, Brian Rattigan, John Roche and Joey Redmond drove back to Karl Kavanagh’s after the murder. Attempts to question those at the eighteenth birthday party and subsequent house party did not yield any extra information.
The majority of witnesses were evasive and unco-operative, with some telling blatant lies placing Brian Rattigan at Cooley Road, when he could not possibly have been there. Statements by people in the house and those who later attended the gathering at Karl Kavanagh’s house differed spectacularly. A decision was taken that anybody suspected of not telling the full truth should be arrested – so thirteen people were detained. Gardaí believed that if they could take individuals into custody for one-on-one interviews that there might be a chance that some of them would crack. This turned out to be exactly the case.
Detective Sergeant Joe O’Hara arrested Karl Kavanagh on 26 September. When he was initially interviewed, he stated that he was at the party in the Rattigans’ until about 2.30 a.m. on the night of the murder. When he was arrested, he said that he was sure about his timings, because ‘my sister told me the following morning it was that time’. He later said that he couldn’t tell the truth as ‘they’ll burn down my house’, and refused to elaborate. He said that prior to the murder he got a taxi to the Kestrel pub in Walkinstown at about 10.30 p.m., where he met up with Shane Maloney and John Roche. They went to Coco’s Nightclub in Tallaght, and at around 2.00 a.m. headed to Abrakebabra. The group ran into ‘Deco’ Gavin outside the ‘chipper’, and John Roche and Gavin had a verbal row, with each calling the other a ‘rat’. He said that Declan Gavin insisted: ‘I’m not a rat. I’m going down for ten years for the stuff that was found.’ Karl Kavanagh said that when Shane Maloney drove back to the Rattigan house, he did not go in but went home to bed. The first he heard about the murder, he claimed, was the following day. He said he had not discussed the murder with anyone and was released without charge.
On 1 November, a warrant was obtained at Dublin District Court by Superintendent John Manley of Crumlin Garda Station for the re-arrest of Kavanagh, because Gardaí had received new information about his movements, after interviewing others who were present at the Kavanagh house following the party at the Rattigans’. During his time in custody, he said he would tell the truth after consulting with his solicitor. He said that Brian and Joey Rattigan, Joey Redmond, Greg Bourke, Mark O’Reilly, Shane Maloney and possibly John Roche went to his house after the Rattigan party. He denied that Maloney’s car was at his house or that he went out to assist in burning the car. He stuck to his original story about not hearing about the murder until the following day, saying he heard it on the radio. He then changed his mind and said that Greg Bourke and Joey Rattigan were the last to leave his house, at around 7.00 a.m. He said he heard Brian Rattigan, Roche and Joey Redmond talk about Gavin’s murder in his house, but said he could not talk to Gardaí about it. He again denied that he had helped to burn Shane Maloney’s car. He said the four suspects in the murder all went to his house because he had a ‘free gaff’. He said that while in the house they spoke about Declan Gavin being stabbed and said, ‘They were the ones who did it.’ He said someone told Shane Maloney to ‘look after the car’. Karl Kavanagh refused to sign any of the memorandums of interview and was released without charge.
Mark 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 hea
ring 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 Redmond ‘said nothing except to say to anybody who asks that they were not there [at the party]’.
Catherine Kavanagh was arrested on 28 September, after Gardaí came to the opinion that she had not told them the full truth in her initial statement. While in custody, she said that she had not attended Joey Rattigan’s eighteenth birthday party but had stayed in her own house with Joey’s brother, and her boyfriend, Ritchie Rattigan. The pair spent the night drinking beer and watching a film. She said that her brother returned home at about 2.00 a.m. She said that when she got up the following morning, Greg Bourke and Joey and Brian Rattigan were there, and she asked them to leave. Later during questioning, she changed her mind and conceded that she got up at 4.40 a.m. and saw Brian and Joey Rattigan, Greg Bourke, Joey Redmond, John Roche, Shane Maloney and Mark O’Reilly in the kitchen. She got up again at 7.00 a.m., and the same group were still in the kitchen. She then told Gardaí: ‘I heard it on the news about the stabbing at the shopping centre in Crumlin. I knew there was something up, because the lads were quiet. One of them said that Declan Gavin was dead.’ In a later interview, she expanded on this and said that Brian Rattigan and John Roche had cheered when the radio broadcast the news of Gavin’s death. She then heard Brian Rattigan tell Shane Maloney to ‘go and get the car burnt’. Shane Maloney and Mark O’Reilly then left the house, and she noticed that Maloney’s car was gone. Later she heard Brian Rattigan phone Maloney and ‘tell him to get a taxi to up the road and not to come back to the house’. Catherine Kavanagh signed the memorandums of the three interviews she gave, and apologised for not initially telling the truth, saying: ‘I just didn’t want to get involved.’ Catherine Kavanagh’s revelations were a serious boost for the Gardaí, because they now had someone in the inner sanctum of the Rattigan family effectively telling them that Brian Rattigan had murdered Declan Gavin. Two days after the revelations, Catherine’s boyfriend, Ritchie Rattigan, was detained.
Cocaine Wars Page 6