Garda killer Brady admits to perverting course of justice
HE RECORDED VIDEO TO INTIMIDATE WITNESS
THE killer of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe has pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice during his murder trial in 2020.
An attempt by Aaron Brady’s lawyers to ban the media from reporting his admission of guilt, due to the potential prejudicial effect on any retrial he might face for murder, was characterised by the State as “fanciful” and refused by the Special Criminal Court.
At yesterday afternoon’s hearing, Brady accepted that he was responsible for recording footage of an interview between gardai and Ronan Flynn, a witness who told officers he had heard Brady admit to shooting Det Gda Donohoe three times.
The video was later posted on social media accusing Mr Flynn of “touting” and calling him a “rat”.
He did not give evidence at Brady’s trial and Mr Justice Michael White, who oversaw it, described the release of the footage as “the most outrageous contempt of court” and a clear attempt to intimidate Mr Flynn and other witnesses.
Brady stood as the registrar asked him to respond to the charge that on a date between February 20 and May 7, 2020, within the State, he video recorded the playing of an interview between Ronan Flynn and An Garda Siochana, thus embarking on a course of conduct intended to pervert the course of justice.
Brady replied: “Guilty.”
Count
He is charged with a further count of conspiring with Dean Byrne to persuade a State witness not to testify at the same trial.
Brady did not enter a plea in relation to that count but prosecution counsel Lorcan Staines SC said it should be taken into account at sentencing.
Following the arraignment, presiding judge Mr Justice Paul Burns adjourned sentencing to May 29 and refused an application from Brady’s lawyers to prevent the media reporting Brady’s guilty plea.
Michael O’Higgins SC, for Brady, argued that media coverage of Brady’s attempt to pervert the course of justice could prejudice a future trial if his client’s murder conviction is overturned by the Court of Appeal. Brady appealed his conviction last
November and is awaiting a decision.
Mr Staines pointed out the Constitution requires that justice be done in public and that principle should only be deviated from in exceptional cases. The concerns raised were “remote”, he said, as the Court of Appeal has not overturned the conviction and there is no guarantee that any potential retrial would take place in front of a jury.
He said there is also a significant amount of material in the public domain regarding the background to the case.
Counsel told the court that Brady’s father Tony Brady had created hours of commentary suggesting a State conspiracy against his son in relation to the murder conviction and in relation to the charge of perverting the course of justice, to which he has now pleaded guilty.
Given the vast amount of material already in the public domain, Mr Staines said the idea that legitimate reporting by professional journalists would prejudice potential jurors is “fanciful” and “couldn’t be further from the type of exceptional case that would allow the court to stray from the Constitution”.
Evidence
Refusing the defence application, Mr Justice Burns said a retrial is “simply a possibility and no more than a possibility” and any mischief from reporting of yesterday’s plea could be remedied by a trial judge directing a jury to try the case based on the evidence they hear in court.
Dean Byrne (30), of Cabra Park, Phibsborough, Dublin, remains on trial for the conspiracy charge. He is accused of conspiring to persuade prosecution witness Daniel Cahill not to give evidence in order to pervert the course of justice between April 8, 2020, and June 22, 2020.
Brady (33), formerly with an address at New Road, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh, was convicted by a jury in 2020 of the murder of Det Gda Donohoe during a robbery at Lordship Credit Union, Bellurgan, Jenkinstown, Co Louth, on January 25, 2013.
He is serving a life sentence with a minimum of 40 years.