Aaron Brady, ‘a skilled and practised liar’, portrayed himself as the victim — now he faces 40 years in jail
Longest murder trial in Irish history rules ‘cocky border criminal’ guilty of killing dad-of-two Adrian, writes Robin Schiller
FOR 122 days, Aaron Brady sat in the dock of the Central Criminal Court as the prosecution tied its circumstantial case against him with the admissions from his own mouth to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he had murdered Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe.
The Armagh man showed little emotion throughout the longest murder trial in Irish history as the evidence, linking him to the credit union robbery and fatal shooting, was presented to the jury.
In the opening stages, the prosecution set out the events which unfolded in the car park of Lordship credit union on that fateful night in 2013.
Witnesses detailed the scene of terror during the raid that lasted just 58 seconds.
One employee, Bernadette McShane, broke down as she recalled seeing Mr Donohoe lying on the ground beside his patrol car as a masked raider ran towards her. This was the moment, Ms McShane said, that she believed the shadowy figure was coming for her because she had “seen too much”. Surveillance cameras captured the robbery, showing four men leap over the credit union wall and sprint towards their targets.
The footage was first played three days into the trial. Aaron Brady sat staring at the screen as it showed the robbery and the moment he took Det Gda Donohoe’s life. He occasionally stared at the floor or looked around, but for the most part his eyes were firmly fixed on the images that captured him firing the fatal shot.
There were intense legal arguments and fierce exchanges between the barristers, with the presiding judge, Mr Justice Michael White, noting that relationships were “extremely difficult” at times.
Due to the circumstantial nature of the case, much of the evidence heard was technical, and large portions of the trial were spent dealing with mobile phone and CCTV evidence.
By June, the trial had moved on to the US phase.
Seven people were expected to testify that they heard Brady admit to the shooting, but following a lengthy campaign of witness intimidation, only two people were prepared to come to court.
The first witness, Molly Staunton, was permitted to give evidence from a domestic residence via video link without any supervision.
The American woman’s testimony was inconsistent. At first she said she heard Aaron Brady admit to the murder. She would later retract this, before standing by her original statement.
In the absence of the jury she was declared a hostile witness by Mr Justice White, while she was frequently interrupted throughout the two days of evidence by a man.
In one encounter between Ms Staunton and the male, who was off-screen, he was heard telling her to “say what you’re supposed to say”. On another occasion, she appeared to be upset.
Worse was to come. On the second day of her re-examination, the same man entered the room and told her to “put a stop to it” and “no more testimony” before the laptop camera was pointed to the floor and the live feed ended. Jury members were ordered back to their rooms as the lawyers and gardaí tried to clarify what they had just seen.
The interventions led to the second US witness, Dublin man Daniel Cahill, testifying from a Homeland Security building in New York.
Over three days, the barman consistently repeated that he heard Aaron Brady admit to the shooting. He also denied several accusations being thrown at him by the defence.
By early July, the prosecution’s case had concluded and the first person called by the defence to testify was Aaron Brady. The Crossmaglen man spent five days attempting to convince the jury that he was not involved in the murder.
This was done by repeatedly lying and launching attacks on prosecution witnesses while claiming that gardaí and the media had ganged up on him.
He described Daniel Cahill as a “lying psychopath” and said Molly Staunton was “a nice girl”, but “mistaken”.
After answering questions from his defence counsel, it was the prosecution’s turn to examine him.
The robust cross-examination began on July 14 when prosecutor Brendan Grehan stood up, looked Aaron Brady in the eye and said: “So you’re the victim in all of this, is that right?”
The experienced barrister would spend the next four days going through every lie the defendant had told since the murder.
From the witness box, Brady portrayed himself as the victim, showing little empathy for Adrian Donohoe’s loved ones and colleagues as he told lie after lie.
The prosecution contended that he was a “practised and skilled liar”.
Last Wednesday, as the court registrar announced to the silent courtroom that Aaron Brady was guilty of capital murder, there was no reaction from him.
The 29-year-old walked straight out of the courtroom, coming to the realisation that he would spend the next 40 years behind bars for taking the life of Adrian Donohoe, a father of two who was protecting his community as he went about his duty on the night of January 25, 2013.
While Brady, the cocky border criminal turned garda killer is the first man to be convicted in relation to the events that night, gardaí are confident that he will not be the last.