Det. Garda’s wife identified body 90 minutes

Det Gda Adrian Donohoe’s wife identified his body 90 minutes after he was shot dead by armed raiders during a credit union robbery, the Central Criminal Court heard .

Inspector Darren Kirwan told Lorcan Staines SC for the prosecution that at 21.45 on January 25, 2013 he became aware that Det Gda Donohoe had been shot and he immediately went to the deceased’s home to visit his wife Caroline Donohoe, who is also a garda. Insp Kirwan said he had known both Caroline and the deceased for 17 years and he described Det Gda Donohoe as a ‘close friend’ as well as a work colleague. He said Mrs Donohoe wanted to visit the scene and at 11pm that night she identified her husband’s body as it lay in the credit union car park.

Jane Murphy BL read a report by former Deputy State Pathologist Dr Khalid Jaber. Counsel told the jury that Dr Jaber carried out a post mortem on the deceased at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda on January 26, 2013. Dr Jaber identified ‘extensive damage to the brain and skull’ and said the cause of death was a ‘penetrating shotgun wound the face (head).’

Paramedic Tony Horwell told Mr Staines that he responded to the shooting at Lordship Credit Union and found Det Gda Donohoe lying in the credit union car park. He attached an ECG machine but found no cardio activity. He told Mr Staines that the injuries Det Gda Donohoe had sustained were ‘inconsistent with life’ so he assumed death had taken place.

Leona White told Mr Staines that she was driving on the Carlingford to Dundalk Road that night when she heard one loud bang which she knew was a gunshot because she lives near a gun range. As she approached Bellurgan National School, which is across the road from Lordship Credit Union, a woman standing in the road flagged her down. She seemed stressed and emotional, Ms White said, and didn’t make sense at first but she told her there had been a robbery and somebody had been shot dead.

Christina Birch told Mr Staines that she was driving with her husband Paul in the passenger seat and when they passed Lordship Credit Union they noticed a car parked over the entrance of the car park and heard two ‘ large bangs.’ She thought it unusual so she pulled in to see what was going on. The car at the gateway of the credit union was not small or big, it might have been a hatchback and was ‘ bigger than a Golf’ and dark-coloured, she said. Ms Birch called 999 while her husband watched what was happening through the car’s rear window. She told