Gda Adrian murder ‘spelt the end for burglary car plot’
Trial of pair told ‘creeper raids’ ended after huge Garda inquiry
A PLOT to break into homes so a gang could steal car keys ended due to an “enormous inquiry” after the murder of Det Garda Adrian Donohoe, the Special Criminal Court heard yesterday.
Lorcan Staines, who is prosecuting Brendan Treanor, 34, and 32-year-old James Flynn, for their alleged role in the conspiracy, said the group were engaged in a “creeper burglary”.
He added when they had spotted a car they wanted, they would “pop” the lock to the front door of the house, remove the keys and flee with the car.
Mr Staines said a VW Passat stolen in the final creeper burglary in Clogherhead, Co Louth, in January 2013 was used in the robbery at Lordship Credit Union in which Det Gda Donohoe was shot and killed.
Counsel added continuing after that would not be possible due to the “enormous Garda investigation” and because Flynn and Aaron Brady, who has been convicted of murdering Det Gda Donohoe, moved to America.
Mr Staines said the prosecution would ask the court to draw inferences from phone contacts around the times of the burglaries between Flynn, Treanor and Brady.
He added inferences could also be drawn from the location of the cell sites their phones pinged off when the raids happened.
EVIDENCE
Counsel said evidence will be a satnav that had been in one stolen car was found by gardai when they searched Flynn’s father Eugene Flynn Snr at Dublin Airport in 2015.
Mr Staines added partially burned papers taken from a home in Cavan during another burglary in 2012 were found in the house where Brady was living in March 2013.
He said the State accepts the evidence in each of the burglaries would not be sufficient to prosecute either accused in isolation.
But he added taken together, “the pattern becomes clear in terms of the individuals involved”.
Mr Staines said in relation to the robbery at Lordship Credit Union, the evidence is circumstantial and the prosecution will “stand or fall on the strength of many fine threads”.
It is alleged Treanor, previously of Emer Terrace, Castletown Road, Dundalk, Co Louth, and Flynn, from South Armagh conspired with Brady and others to enter a house with the intention of stealing car keys between September 2012 and January 2013.
Both are also charged with the robbery of €7,000 at Lordship Credit Union in Bellurgan, Co Louth in January 2013. They deny all charges.
Brady, 31, is serving 40 years for murdering Det Gda Donohoe. He is awaiting an appeal.
Mr Staines said there was a “fluidity” in relation to the people involved in the burglaries.
Flynn was in America in September and October 2012 and therefore was not involved in three alleged raids. But on returning to Ireland in November
2012, Mr Staines said he “became an integral part of the conspiracy that was continuing up to the murder of Detgarda Donohoe.”
He told the court Flynn lived at Dunroman House in January 2013 and Brady slept there regularly. Dunroman is a three-minute drive from the credit union.
Mr Staines went through seven burglaries and said what is significant about some of those break-ins is the alleged conspirators were calling one another in the middle of the night when the cars went missing.
He claimed some of their phones were connected to cell sites in areas near the raids. Mr Staines said there would also be CCTV
evidence showing the movements of cars at various locations.
Counsel said the court would see evidence of what it’s alleged were two “scoping exercises” at the Credit Union the night before the robbery and earlier on the day of the crime. The prosecution also relies on the fact that phones belonging to the two accused and to Brady went silent from 8.29pm, about one hour before the robbery, and only became active a little over an hour after the robbery.
Following that, he said Mr Treanor’s phone called one of Brady’s phones at 10.48pm but then stopped operating and was never activated again.
When asked about his phone, Treanor told gardai it “fell in the bath when I was washing my dog”.
Mr Staines outlined other circumstantial evidence the prosecution will rely on and told the court the Lordship Credit Union had previously been robbed in 2011 with the robbers getting away with €22,000 in cash and cheques. That robbery took just 17 seconds and no guns were involved.
Two armed gardai, including Det Gda Donohoe, were present at the robbery in January 2013 and that took just under one minute.
Mr Staines finished by saying that at the time the 2013 robbery was taking place, a silver Mercedes with a registration made to read as the name “Eugene” and that belonged to Eugene Flynn Snr was seen driving in the vicinity of Lordship Credit Union.
Counsel said one witness who was familiar with the car remarked at the time: “Eugene is in an awful hurry.”
The trial with Mr Justice Tony Hunt is presiding and Her Honour Judge Sarah Berkeley and Judge Alan Mitchell continues.
Flynn became an integral part of conspiracy that continued up to Gda Donohoe’s murder LORCAN STAINES CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT YESTERDAY