Criminal offered to ‘do damage’ to witness in Donohoe murder trial

A criminal offered to “do damage” for money to a key prosecution witness in a garda murder trial, a non-jury court has heard.

Convicted murderer Aaron Brady and his co-accused Dean Byrne were due to go on trial before the Special Criminal Court this week for perverting the course of justice.

Yesterday morning, Brady (33) pleaded guilty to sharing a video recording of a witness’s statement during the trial in 2020 that was intended to pervert the course of justice.

The south Armagh man, who is currently serving a minimum of 40 years for the capital murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe during the Lordship Credit Union raid in 2013, will be sentenced next month.

Yesterday, the prosecution opened its case against Byrne, originally from Cabra Park, Dublin 7, who is accused of conspiring with Brady to persuade a key witness not to give evidence during the trial.

Lorcan Staines SC, prosecuting, said it would be the State’s case that the accused acted as Brady’s agent when contacting people known to witness Daniel Cahill.

He said a mobile phone was recovered from Byrne’s cell during the capital murder trial from which images and Facebook conversation were recovered.

It is alleged that in one message Byrne asked a relative of Mr Cahill to contact him about his statement, for it to “stop” and that “people are trying to say he done something he didn’t do”.

The court was told Byrne subsequently sent the witness statements to the relative, adding that he did not want them to be sent on as it would “f**king fall back on the young fella, it will go bad on his case”.

In another conversation from June 6, a week before Mr Cahill was due to give evidence, Byrne is alleged to have asked the relative: “What’s up, bro, he’s doing that this week. Will you try and talk to him. It’s not on.”

The prosecution case is that Byrne was acting as Brady’s agent and had information about the case from him.

On June 22, Mr Cahill gave evidence in front of the jury about hearing Brady on several occasions admit to shooting a garda. That same day, the prosecution says Byrne messaged another man, who was an acquaintance of the witness, and a convicted criminal.

In a WhatsApp message, Byrne referred to Mr Cahill as a “f**king rat c**t”, a “dirt bird” and a “filth bag rat bastard”.

The court was told that in response, the criminal sent three “dollar money emojis”, adding: “I’ll find him, put the number up, I’ll do damage to him.”

Mr Staines said that in garda interviews the accused denied having seen the phone found in his cell and lied about not having a social media account as well as knowing Brady.

His trial will continue before the three judges, with Mr Justice Paul Burns residing, on Monday.

Earlier, Brady pleaded guilty to video recording footage of a witness interview between Ronan Flynn and members of An Garda Síochána, thus embarking on a course of conduct that had the tendency to, and was intended to, pervert the course of public justice.

Mr Flynn had told gardaí that Brady admitted on several occasions to the murder of a garda. This was while they lived together in New York.

The court was told Brady was given a laptop to view evidence against him, and that during the trial he recorded four video clips in his prison cell of Mr Flynn giving a statement.

In one recording, Brady was also heard remarking “f**king pigs head”, while in a phone call with his father, Tony Brady, the latter was heard referring to the witness as “Ronan the bastard”.

Evidence was also given that clips of Mr Flynn giving a statement were shared online, referring to him as a “tout”.

Yesterday morning, the non-jury court was told Brady could be re-arraigned on the first count against him.

The accused stood up and replied “Yes” when he was asked to confirm his name. When the charge was put to him, the accused responded: “Guilty.”

Mr Flynn had given a statement to gardaí outlining how Brady admitted the murder, but ended up not giving evidence, with the presiding judge saying this was as a result of “clear intimidation”.

The footage was shared online during the trial, describing the witness as a tout and a rat.

Mr Staines informed the court that a second charge against Brady could be taken into consideration at the sentencing hearing.

He had been further charged with conspiring to persuade state witness Daniel Cahill not to testify in the murder trial, between April 8 and June 22, 2020.

Mr Cahill gave evidence during the capital murder trial that while they were in New York, Brady admitted on a number of occasions to shooting the detective dead.

He will be sentenced on May 29, while Byrne (30) will be tried before the nonjury court, accused of conspiring to persuade Mr Cahill not to give evidence.

Brady’s defence also brought an unsuccessful application to have a media reporting ban placed over the proceedings.

His barrister outlined to the court how his client is currently awaiting the outcome of an appeal against his conviction for capital murder. Senior counsel Michael O’Higgins said that, if this appeal is unsuccessful, they would bring the matter to the Supreme Court, but if it was successful it was likely that a retrial would be ordered.

The barrister said if a retrial were ordered, the reporting on his guilty plea would “reflect very badly” on his client.