Affidavit signed by Cormac Boomer witnessed by John B.M. Doyle Notary Public
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN - AN AFFIDAVIT
Reference: Aviation Incident - The reported disappearance of a Piper Lance Aircraft - Reg. N0. 9H-ABU
When enroute from Djerba Tunisia to Malta on the morning of the 3rd December 1995, my son Desmond was reported to be a passenger on this aircraft.
At the outset I had no reason to believe that the report of the incident was other than as reported/claimed to be, i.e. a tragic accident in mid-flight. My views and opinions on this incident were irrevocably changed on the afternoon of Friday, 15th December 1995. On that day I was contacted by phone by a Mr. Geoffrey William’s who resides in Liverpool, England.
During our conversation Mr. Williams explained he was the brother of Michael Williams who was reported to be a passenger on the missing plane. He then proceeded to inform me that his brother had a son Andrew who was at that time a serving officer in HM Royal Navy. On hearing of his father's disappearance he obtained immediate leave of absence and travelled to Malta and was present on the island during the period of the eight day international search for the missing aircraft.
According to Geoffrey Williams his nephew rang him each evening to brief him on the results of each day's search and up-date him on the progress of his own enquiries. On the evening of l2th December 1995 he rang his uncle and during their conversation he imparted the following information. On that day (12th December 1995) he had been in a government building where he met a Maltese public figure believed to be a Dr. Philip Scibberas who took him into an office where he instructed the staff to leave the office, the door was then closed, and when alone this public figure made the following statement, “We feel you have a right to know your father's plane did not go down in the water, it went down on land and we know where it is.”
Q. How do you know where it is?
A. Our surveillance systems monitored it's distress beacon for several hours after it was reported missing.
Q. If it is on land is it in Tunisia.
A. No.
Q. Then is it in Libya.
A. It is on the ground in Tripoli, now let me make it perfectly clear, if you repeat this conversation to anyone outside this room I will deny that I ever made such statements, at which point the public figure excused himself and left the office.
On Sunday l7th December 1995 I contacted my then M.P. Dr Joe Hendron at his home. He put me in contact with Mr, Sean O'Higgins who at that time was Head of Department in the office of Mr. Dick Spring, T.D. who was the then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in Dublin. Arising from a lengthy discussion with Mr. O'Higgins I was instructed to set down in writing all the relevant information I had acquired to date and have it delivered to him ASAP.
This report was completed on l8th December 1995 and handed to Dr. Hendron who delivered it to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Dublin with whom he had a meeting on 19th December 1995.
