VIDEO ANALYST VIEWS CCTV FOOTAGE OF CRUCIAL DATES
A UK video analyst viewed CCTV footage from the night Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe was shot dead in an attempt to identify vehicles gardai believe were involved in the shooting, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
Matt Cass of Acuity Forensics told prosecution counsel Lorcan Staines SC that his company specialises in image analysis, vehicle identification and reconstruction of events that have been captured by CCTV.
Giving his evidence by video link from the UK he said his role is to provide evidence ‘impartially, not to take sides or provide evidence for one side or the other.’ At the beginning of the process he asked gardai not to provide information about the CCTV so his colleague Andy Wooller could carry out a ‘ blind analysis’ of the footage.
He added: ‘We are just interested in what the CCTV can tell us without the background information.’ Mr Cass worked as an intermediary between gardai and Mr Wooller to protect the video analyst from any bias, he said.
Aaron Brady (28) from New Road, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh has pleaded not guilty to the capital murder of Det Gda Adrian Donohoe who was then a member of An Garda Siochana on active duty on January 25, 2013 at Lordship Credit Union, Bellurgan, Co Louth. Mr Brady has also pleaded not guilty to a charge of robbing approximately €7,000 in cash and assorted cheques on the same date and at the same location.
The jury heard that Mr Wooller viewed CCTV footage from the night of the shooting and footage from various locations around County Louth two nights prior to the shooting. He then made a list of vehicles that may have been visible in the footage. In October 2017 he and Mr Cass helped gardai to do a reconstruction of the footage using the list of cars identified so they could compare and contrast.
Detective Garda Garreth Kenna played for the jury CCTV footage at various locations from the night of the murder and from two nights previously when the prosecution alleges that a Volkswagen Passat used in the robbery was stolen from outside a house in Clogherhead, Co Louth. He then played reconstructed footage taken from the same CCTV cameras using cars identified by Mr Wooller.
Among the cars selected for the reconstruction were three models of the BMW 5-Series, A Volkswagen Passat model from 2008 and another from 2011 and a Peugot 508 from 2011.
The jury was then shown the original footage from January 23 and January 25 2013 alongside the reconstructed footage using the selected vehicles. Gardai also reconstructed the footage using a car that belonged to a suspect for the robbery.
A car identification expert has said a BMW belonging to a suspect in the robbery that led to the shooting of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe matches a car identified on CCTV footage by investigating gardai.
Andy Wooller of Acuity Forensics told the trial of Aaron Brady, who denies Det Gda Donohoe’s murder, that the vehicle seen on CCTV is either the suspect’s BMW or the same model and make with similar alloy wheels and a similar roof that reflects light differently to the rest of the car’s body.
Mr Wooller told prosecution counsel Lorcan Staines SC that he provides expert evidence to trials in the UK, Ireland and other countries on video analysis and vehicle identification. He said he was hired by An Garda Siochana to examine CCTV footage but his duty, he said, is to the court and his evidence would not change if he were hired by the defence or the prosecution.
When gardai asked him to identify cars on CCTV footage, he said he told them not to give him any information about the cars or the nature of the offence so that his analysis would not be contaminated by confirmation bias.
From footage taken outside Sharkey’s Bar in Clogherhead, Co Louth in the early hours of January 23, 2013, three nights before the robbery, Mr Wooller identified a BMW 5-Series E60. It has been previously stated that at around the same time a Volkswagen Passat that was allegedly used in the Lordship robbery was stolen from outside a house in Clogherhead.
Mr Wooller’s colleague Matt Cass then directed gardai to create a reconstruction of the CCTV footage using two similar BMW 5-Series and the suspect’s car. Mr Wooller was not told which cars were which when shown the reconstruction. He identified the suspect’s BMW in the reconstruction as being ‘entirely consistent’ with the BMW viewed in the original footage. One of the other BMW’s was a ‘very good match’ but the style of the alloy wheels was inconsistent with the car in the original footage.
When he was later shown photographs of the suspect’s car he noted that it had a wrap on the roof that created a different tone to the rest of the body. He said he then analysed the CCTV again and noted a different pattern of light reflecting from the roof of the car when compared to the same light reflecting off the boot and bonnet.
Mr Wooller also identified features of what he said was a dark toned Volkswagen Passat V6 seen at Lordship Credit Union that could be seen blocking the exit of cars while the robbery and shooting took place. He differentiated it from other models of Volkswagen by noting various distinct features including the shape of the rear lights.