Gardai target further 10 suspects in murder case
THE continuing investigation into the murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe will focus on up to 10 people, including mothers, fathers and siblings, who are suspected of shielding the cross-Border criminals suspected of involvement.
Between seven to 10 people on both sides of the Border are believed to be withholding information about the culprits in the aftermath of the murder and of providing the logistical support to help them escape.
Aaron Brady (29) faces a 40-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of the capital murder of Det Gda Donohoe last week. Gda Donohoe was shot dead by Brady during an armed raid at Lordship credit union in Louth in 2013. Four other gang members remain at large, two in Ireland and two in the US, where Brady also fled after the murder.
The next phase of the investigation will focus on breaking the wall of silence and intimidation that resulted in several key witnesses withdrawing their cooperation from gardaí.
In a statement, Chief Superintendent Christy Mangan confirmed to the Sunday Independent that the investigation will look at those who provided “logistical support” to the gang.
“We will continue to focus on the evidence gathered to date on all of the people involved with Adrian and the subsequent robbery,” he said. “A number of people provided logistical support to ensure that the criminals involved escaped justice at that time and we will certainly be knocking on their doors at some time in the future.”
The chief superintendent said the successful conclusion of the case last week was the result of a concerted effort that involved many teams, not just the garda team.
He singled out the senior legal team of Brendan Grehan and Lorcan Staines, both senior counsels, who
he said “provided night and day support to this investigation”.
In a separate poignant interview about his closest friend, Inspector Darren Kirwan revealed how he last saw Adrian Donohoe hours before he died, and received a final text message from him minutes before he was shot.
He told the Sunday Independent that the investigation team “know where they are going” in the next steps of the investigation, under the stewardship of Inspector Martin Beggy and had every confidence they would succeed.
“He [Adrian] was popular, funny, generous, caring. He was witty. He loved the bit of craic. He had so many friends in the force, and outside in the community and he was raised by a wonderful family. I want Adrian to be remembered as that person, not just for being the guard who was shot dead on January 25, 2013,” he said.
The investigation resulted in an extraordinary level of cooperation between An Garda Síochána and several US law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, the NYPD and Homeland Security, in tracking down Aaron Brady after he fled to the US in 2013.
Brian Mohan, a retired garda superintendent who led the murder investigation until 2016, told the Sunday Independent that Brady was extremely forensically aware in the US in a bid to avoid links to crime. Undercover officers made several attempts to engage with him, he said, including occasions when he was travelling to work on the subway and playing football in Gaelic Park in the Bronx.
He refused to engage and was so mindful of surveillance that he brought his rubbish home with him, rather than dump it in a bin, where it could be used as evidence of his movements.
Superintendent Mohan paid tribute to Adrian Donohoe’s widow, Caroline, and their families for “their patience and understanding with the investigation team in what was truly the most harrowing time they had to go through in their lives”.
“I hope the verdict will bring some sort of solace to them, but it won’t bring Adrian back,” he added.