Garda’s Co Armagh murderer given legal aid worth over £1.4m
Gunman serving at least 40 years’ jail for shooting Adrian Donohoe
A CO Armagh man who murdered a garda during a botched robbery received more than £1.4m in legal aid.
Aaron Brady was handed a minimum 40-year jail sentence last October after being convicted of killing Det Garda Adrian Donohoe.
Mr Donohoe (41) was shot dead during the raid at Lordship credit union in Co Louth in 2013.
It can now be revealed that Brady’s defence team was awarded €1,604,404 (£1,421,188) in legal aid.
The bill could rise as the 29-year-old, from New Road in Crossmaglen, is to appeal his murder conviction. The costs were released by the Republic’s Department of Justice after a freedom of information request.
A breakdown of expenditure shows payments to:
Three senior counsel totalling €737,629 (£653,395)
Four junior counsel totalling €667,476 (£591,253)
Two solicitors €199,299 (£176,540).
Once VAT is factored in, the costs will be even higher.
Aside from the €1.6m lawyer costs, three expert witnesses received
totalling €20,823. A further three received £13,845.
Legal sources said the bills, while appearing large, reflected a “highly complex” case — the longest murder trial in the history of the Irish State.
It began on January 27 last year and sat for 118 days, during which 139 witnesses were called to give evidence, including the accused.
In August the jury found Brady guilty of capital murder by a majority verdict of 11 to one.
Jurors accepted the prosecution case that he had fired the fatal shot during the raid at Lordship credit union in Dundalk on January 25, 2013.
Brady had denied involvement, instead claiming he was moving laundered diesel waste cubes at a yard in south Armagh at the time.
On the night he died, Mr Donohoe, a married father-oftwo, was on an armed cash escort when it was ambushed by a five-man gang.
In a bid to avoid justice, Brady moved to New York, where it was said he “wore the shooting of Det Garda Adrian Donohoe like a badge of honour”.
During the trial, two key witnesses testified that they heard him admit to shooting a garda in Ireland.
The defence made several applications to discharge the jury, citing the delay over the Covid-19 pandemic and the interruption of a key witness’s testimony, but these were refused by trial judge Mr Justice Michael White.
Jurors deliberated for around 20 hours, over six days, before returning guilty verdicts on counts of capital murder and robbery.
In October, Brady was handed the mandatory 40-year prison term for capital murder.
The Irish Department of Justice said it could not comment on individual cases.
“The provision of criminal legal aid in circumstances where a person is unable to fund their own criminal defence has been established as a constitutional right in Irish law,” it added.
“The Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act 1962 provides that the courts are responsible for the granting of legal aid where a person is of insufficient means, and the court is satisfied that the gravity of the charge or exceptional circumstances make it essential in the interests of justice that the applicant have legal aid.
“Set fees are paid to legal practitioners in line with regulations.”