Kinahan associate ‘haunted’ by murder of his innocent pal by ‘gunman in drag’

A Kinahan cartel associate took part in a murder conspiracy while “haunted” by the belief that he was the intended target of a gunman in drag who shot down his innocent friend, the Special Criminal Court has heard.

Jason ‘Jay’ O’Connor (46) of Whitestown Grove in Blanchardstown, Dublin 15, had been accused of the attempted murder of Charlie Cooper at Parslickstown Green, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15, on December 5, 2016, but pleaded guilty in May to the reduced charge of conspiracy to murder, which the State accepted.

Mr Cooper was seriously injured when he was shot multiple times at his home. However, he was treated in intensive care for his wounds and made a recovery.

At the Special Criminal Court yesterday, Detective Garda Inspector Liam Donoghue named the organisation that O’Connor has admitted helping as the Kinahan crime group.

At the non-jury court today, Det Insp Donoghue told Sean Gillane SC, prosecuting, that O’Connor conspired with “persons unknown” in the plot to murder Mr Cooper and that 10 shots were fired in the attempt on Cooper’s life in the kitchen of his home in December 2016.

During the course of the investigation, searches of addresses in December 2016 yielded electronic devices of interest to gardaí, including an encrypted Blackberry phone located at O’Connor’s home.

Det Insp Donoghue told Mr Gillane that in October 2016 O’Connor messaged an associate saying that he “just wanted to feel normal” and that the “Walker death broke me”.

Keith Walker was a friend of O’Connor’s who was murdered at a pigeon-racing event in 2015 with O’Connor believing that he was the intended target, as Mr Walker was driving O’Connor’s car at the time.

Christopher McDonald (then 34), from the East Wall area, was found guilty by unanimous verdict at the Central Criminal Court in 2017 and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Mr Walker (36), at the Blanchardstown Pigeon Racing Club car park on June 12, 2015.

That trial was shown CCTV footage of McDonald, dressed in drag, waiting to carry out the hit. Several witnesses said they saw a man dressed in women’s gym clothes in the area, carrying a handbag and wearing a long black wig. One witness reported him to gardaí after she saw him near a creche beside the club.

Det Insp Donoghue said O’Connor had messaged his associate in the aftermath of Mr Walker’s death: “I have a target. Need to show these junkies now. Anyone involved has to go. Eye for an eye.”

The court heard of exchanges between O’Connor and his associate discussing the need for tracker devices and silencers for various operations concerning “targets”. One exchange records O’Connor saying, “I’m up for it”, regarding an operation described by his associate as a “suicide mission”.

Gardaí from Blanchardstown also recovered other messages from the encrypted device referring to other operations with ongoing conversations about gun silencers, trackers, named targets and their movements.

One target was described as “duckin’ and divin’” but messages revealed that O’Connor and his associates were willing to wait for “as long as it takes”, the court heard.

In another exchange, O’Connor’s associate says that there were “defo more jobs” with O’Connor replying that he needed to “show the lads I’m good at what I do”.

Michael Bowman SC, for O’Connor, said the death of Mr Walker “haunted” his client into paranoia and psychosis and that in 2016 the defendant was “mentally very unwell and suicidal”.

Mr Bowman said O’Connor, a father of four and a grandfather of one, had required psychiatric treatment and was on antipsychotic medication after Mr Walker’s shooting. He Bowman said O’Connor was “a realist”, who accepted he was facing a “lengthy sanction”.

Counsel said O’Connor’s actions were “directly related” to the death of Mr Walker and that O’Connor had since disassociated himself with individuals involved in criminality.

Mr Bowman said O’Connor had made “a significant turning of the page” and that his client was capable of making a positive contribution to his family and society.

Mr Gillane said O’Connor was facing a maximum term of imprisonment of 15 years.

O’Connor pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder Charlie Cooper under Section 4 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, adjourned the matter for sentence finalisation to October 14.