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Aaron Brady Guilty as charged

knucklehead6

Aaron Brady has been found guilty of the capital murder of Det Garda Adrian Donohoe in Louth in 2013.

On Monday, Brady, of New Road, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh, was found guilty of robbing approximately €7,000 in cash and cheques outside the Lordship Credit Union in January 2013.

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ThewhiteJesus

event wrote: »

Sure if it wasnt him he can tell the guards who it was that pulled the trigger. Means he will probably get off on the murder charge and only do time for robbery

Chances are he'll get off anyway on appeal

StackSteevens

cameramonkey wrote: »

I think with such a terrible crime that the need to get a conviction and the need from the public for justice can be great. I think there will be an appeal and that the appeal against the murder conviction has a good chance of being successful. I think his conviction was based purely on the evidence that he admitted his crime to someone in the states. The Guard who was present at the murder and other witnesses said that the shooter was 6 foot tall whereas Brady is much smaller, that is evidence that will be reconsidered at an appeal.

Did winning the case require the prosecution to prove that it was Brady who had actually shot the garda, or just that he had been a member of the gang that had committed the murder? In other words, if the Gardai can identify and prosecute the other 4 gang members will they also be accused of capital murder, or merely of armed robbery?

xvril

Honestly, I think there is enough reasonable doubt not to convict.

The main witness says the shooter was at least 6 foot tall, Brady is 5 foot 7.

Mr Cahill's testimony sounds very dodgy, almost like he is trying to hide something and his situation in the US is very peculiar.

In saying that I still think it probably was him, I just think there is enough reasonable doubt to say that it might not have been.

___

Key witness in Garda Donohoe trial 'might have had a lot of motives to make things up', defence say

The “most significant” witness in the trial of the man accused of murdering Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe “might have had a lot of motives to make things up”, a barrister has told the Special Criminal Court. Michael O’Higgins SC, for Aaron Brady, told the jury of six men and seven women that the background to Daniel Cahill giving evidence was “shrouded in mystery” and that he may have been subjected to threats or inducement by Homeland Security before speaking to gardai. Mr Cahill has told the trial that he heard Mr Brady admit to killing a garda on three occasions. Mr Cahill also revealed that he spoke to gardai in New York after Homeland Security agents came to his home in circumstances where he had overstayed his 90-day visa waiver by several years.

In his closing speech to the jury, Mr O’Higgins also criticised the garda investigation, accusing investigators of closing their eyes to evidence and burying their heads in the sand over evidence that his client was laundering diesel at the time Det Gda Donohoe was shot. Aaron Brady (29) 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. Mr O’Higgins said he wanted to start with Mr Cahill’s evidence, which he said was the “most significant evidence in the case”.

Counsel asked the jury to consider why, five years after Mr Cahill first claimed to have heard a confession from Aaron Brady, he “falls out of the sky with this evidence” on July 25, 2019 when he gave his first statement to gardai. Mr O’Higgins reminded the jury that Mr Cahill told them that he gave evidence because he wanted justice for Detective Garda Donohoe, his family and for the Irish justice system. Counsel said: “The first thing I want to do is stress test that claim.” Mr O’Higgins said the witness had claimed to know nothing of the murder of Det Gda Donohoe even after he heard Mr Brady make his alleged confessions. Counsel said: “Maybe it’s possible to ignore it the first time and not take it seriously, put it down to drunken rambling, but then there’s the second time. In the internet age would you be mildly curious enough to even google the event. Daniel Cahill didn’t. Didn’t do it after the third or the fourth time. Does that sound to you like someone with a burning desire to do justice?” Mr O’Higgins questioned why the witness did not tell any of his friends in the New York police, who he practiced jiu jitsu with every week, his wife or anyone else. In his testimony, Mr Cahill said that he met a number of gardai on St Patrick’s Day 2017 who were talking about Det Gda Donohoe and Aaron Brady. Mr Cahill said that he told the gardai present that Aaron Brady had admitted to him that he killed a garda. Mr O’Higgins suggested this was a lie told by Mr Cahill because he needed to explain why he hadn’t spoken about the alleged confession for so many years.

Had the conversation taken place, counsel said, the gardai who heard it would have taken Mr Cahill’s details, passed the information up the line until it got to the investigation team and a detective would have taken the next flight to New York to speak to Mr Cahill. “None of that happened,” counsel said, “and it didn’t happen because the conversation was completely invented.” Mr O’Higgins said the catalyst for Mr Cahill coming forward was “an early morning knock on the door” from eight or nine members of Homeland Security, including an enforcement and removal officer. When this happened, counsel said, Mr Cahill “had an unusual reaction. He took himself off to the attic, naked, and stayed there for a number of hours.” Homeland Security found Mr Cahill and in their search discovered a cannabis plant and steroids. Mr O’Higgins questioned how, in those circumstances, no charges were brought against Mr Cahill in relation to the cannabis and steroids and, despite being a visa overstayer who had not filled out the paperwork to apply for status to remain, Mr Cahill was released. He reminded them of the evidence of Kerry Bretz, who said that in his 30 years as an immigration lawyer in the US he had never seen that happen.

Mr O’Higgins suggested that Mr Cahill “might have had a lot of motives to make things up”. Counsel further asked the jury to consider whether it is normal that, during the trial, Homeland Security refused to answer questions about Mr Cahill’s immigration status or what was said to him when he was detained. Counsel reminded the jury that Special Agent Mary Ann Wade would not answer questions about Mr Cahill’s immigration status or whether he was arrested. He questioned why the Director of Public Prosecutions allowed the witness to dictate what questions she would answer and asked the jury to imagine the gardai in similar circumstances, refusing to say if Mr Cahill was arrested and refusing to answer questions about his detention. Mr O’Higgins suggested Mr Cahill was subjected to “inducement, and its Siamese twin, threat.” He added: “You have a situation which is unprecedented that witnesses will come in here and say, here’s what’s on and off the agenda.” He said such an approach rewrites the rules of a criminal trial in a “radical and unprecedented” way and would be something you might expect to see in a “tinpot dictatorship”.

Counsel also asked the jury whether Mr Cahill was credible in his description of a walk he went on with members of the 32-County Sovereignty Committee, during which he posed for a photo unfurling a banner with Vincent Ryan, a dissident republican who was shot dead in 2018. Mr Cahill described it as a community sponsored walk. Counsel asked the jury if, having heard that story, they would buy a used car from Mr Cahill. If they wouldn’t, he asked: “How could you rely on him for something that is 1,000 times more important?” Mr O’Higgins also reminded the jury that Mr Cahill was pictured with Dean Evans 16 days after Det Gda Donohoe was shot dead and 24 days before Mr Evans murdered Peter Butterly outside the Huntsman Inn in Gormanston, Co Meath. He said the photograph was introduced by the defence not to visit Dean Evans’s bad character on Mr Cahill, but to call into question his claim that he did not follow the news and did not hear of the shooting of Det Gda Donohoe until years later. He said: “If you are hanging around that milieu of people committing those types of crimes, often in the name of Republican activities, the fact that a garda gets shot is a talking point.” Mr O’Higgins further questioned where Mr Cahill learned his court etiquette, asking: “Did it cross your mind that this was a witness who had been prepared? Who was well aware there would be questions about unfurling banners with the 32 County Sovereignty Committee.” He asked whether Mr Cahill’s statement that he was there for justice was a “prepared answer, a soundbite that would inhibit further cross examination.” He urged the jury not to rely on Mr Cahill’s evidence unless they are satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that he is telling the truth.

Molly Staunton told the trial that she was in Mr Brady’s New York apartment where she heard him say he had “shot a cop” in Ireland and was one of the most feared men in Ireland. Mr O’Higgins reminded the jury that under cross-examination, Ms Staunton gave a different account, saying that Mr Brady was upset that he was being linked with the shooting but not that he had carried it out. When prosecution counsel Brendan Grehan showed her a video of her statement to gardai, she went back to her original position, counsel said. Mr O’Higgins described Ms Staunton as a witness “who is swinging right to left to right” and said her testimony was unreliable. Dealing with the defence case, Mr O’Higgins said there is evidence that his client was laundering diesel on the night Det Gda Donohoe was shot. Mr Brady had described his activities in text messages to his then girlfriend Jessica King and there was evidence that a trailer was brought from Dublin that day to Concession Road to be loaded with cubes of diesel waste. He also pointed to phone contacts between Mr Brady and two known fuel launderers and contacts those men had with two other known fuel launderers. He said it was a “no brainer” and a “self evident exercise” to investigate those links to fuel laundering and added: “Yet the State, for some reason or another, will not look, did not look, did not examine.”

Counsel also questioned a prosecution suggestion that Mr Brady is a “psychopath”, asking the jury to look at his text exchanges with Ms King. A psychopath, counsel said, is someone with no feelings, no moral qualms and who will do whatever they want. In that context he said the jury should look at how he interacted with his girlfriend. He also reminded the jury that Ms King and her family met Mr Brady in the hours after the shooting and said he seemed his normal self; cheerful, cheeky, “not a bother on him”. Mr O’Higgins accepted that his client had told lies and that lies can count against an accused person. However, he also told them that people lie for different reasons and in this case, it was to hide his connection to diesel laundering.

He asked the jury to consider that if Mr Brady was part of an organised gang who had committed this robbery, why his first false account to gardai the day after the shooting was so easily pulled apart and contradicted by one of his alleged accomplices. Counsel said an organised gang would have prepared a story before passing through the garda cordon within a short distance of where the robbery had taken place. He asked the jury to consider Mr Brady’s lies in the context of the “ambiance and atmosphere” of south Armagh and diesel laundering. He added: “It’s against that background that those lies are told.” Counsel questioned the value of CCTV footage which the prosecution says shows a suspect for the robbery traveling to Clogherhead three nights earlier to steal a Volkswagen Passat that was used as the getaway vehicle. Mr O’Higgins said the CCTV is grainy and the times don’t match up to the prosecution’s claims. He described as “flawed” the prosecution’s suggestion that the fact phones belonging to Mr Brady and two suspects in the case went dead around the time of the robbery.

Criticising the gardai investigation, Mr O’Higgins said gardai should have investigated his client’s links to diesel laundering in 2013. They had, counsel said, evidence from Jessica King’s phone that he was laundering diesel at the time, they had records that he was in touch with known fuel launderers and they had evidence elsewhere that the yard he mentioned in his statement was being used for diesel laundering. Counsel accused gardai of closing their eyes to the evidence and putting their heads in the sand in relation to the site at Concession Road. Mr O’Higgins will continue his closing speech to the jury tomorrow.

event

Conall Cernach wrote: »

It is a bit strange that the only one of the gang caught so far is the one that is now convicted of the murder. How did they come to link Brady to being the killer except by his own alleged bragging in the States?

Sure if it wasnt him he can tell the guards who it was that pulled the trigger. Means he will probably get off on the murder charge and only do time for robbery

AudreyHepburn

Lock him up and throw away the key. Scumbag of the highest order.

Maybe now Det Garda Donohoe’s family can have some closure and he can rest peacefully.

Raffo69

Truthvader wrote: »

Would be very interested if that were the case. I cant imagine you could rob the local credit union on the border without permission or approval but have not heard anything yet

Criminals in that border area do what they want these days. Republicans would have little to no authority over them, never mind be the ones to allow them do robberies.

Theboinkmaster

mr_fegelien wrote: »

Why didn't he just kill himself in America when approached by the Secret Service??? Idiot. And also, who goes to the US to flee Irish law enforcement. Does he not know of this little thing called extradition treaties?

Overall a dumb guy and it's good he's paying for it?

Secret service is not relevant - it was Homeland Security.

He was not extradited - he was sent home due to immigration status/traffic offences.

Someone has been watching too many films :rolleyes:

cameramonkey

Conall Cernach wrote: »

It is a bit strange that the only one of the gang caught so far is the one that is now convicted of the murder. How did they come to link Brady to being the killer except by his own alleged bragging in the States?

https://www.thejournal.ie/adrian-donohoe-verdict-5173833-Aug2020/

Conall Cernach

cameramonkey wrote: »

I think with such a terrible crime that the need to get a conviction and the need from the public for justice can be great. I think there will be an appeal and that the appeal against the murder conviction has a good chance of being successful. I think his conviction was based purely on the evidence that he admitted his crime to someone in the states. The Guard who was present at the murder and other witnesses said that the shooter was 6 foot tall whereas Brady is much smaller, that is evidence that will be reconsidered at an appeal.

It is a bit strange that the only one of the gang caught so far is the one that is now convicted of the murder. How did they come to link Brady to being the killer except by his own alleged bragging in the States?

Damien360

roast222 wrote: »

https://www.dundalkdemocrat.ie/news/home/565864/the-most-outrageous-contempt-of-court-witness-intimidation-and-interference-in-the-trial-of-aaron-brady.html

Only 2 witnesses were willing to testify one of whose evidence was discarded due to video interference. Others were intimidated into not testifying and the jurors would have not have been aware of the other 5 testimonies who either failed to show up in court or who retracted their statements.

That’s disgraceful. Is his gang a bunch of local scobies or ex-IRA or active IRA ? Ignore the SF slant. Who are they? The language used by the people trying to intimidate witnesses is the same used as our ethnic brethren when doing the same to witnesses.

mloc123

Absolute scum, murdering a guard for the grand total of €7,000...

Truthvader

roast222 wrote: »

https://www.dundalkdemocrat.ie/news/home/565864/the-most-outrageous-contempt-of-court-witness-intimidation-and-interference-in-the-trial-of-aaron-brady.html

Only 2 witnesses were willing to testify one of whose evidence was discarded due to video interference. Others were intimidated into not testifying and the jurors would have not have been aware of the other 5 testimonies who either failed to show up in court or who retracted their statements.

If the Guards and the Courts do not follow up this witness intimidation and prosecute and sentence those involved more and more cases are going to be compromised

cameramonkey

I think with such a terrible crime that the need to get a conviction and the need from the public for justice can be great. I think there will be an appeal and that the appeal against the murder conviction has a good chance of being successful. I think his conviction was based purely on the evidence that he admitted his crime to someone in the states. The Guard who was present at the murder and other witnesses said that the shooter was 6 foot tall whereas Brady is much smaller, that is evidence that will be reconsidered at an appeal.

roast222

https://www.dundalkdemocrat.ie/news/home/565864/the-most-outrageous-contempt-of-court-witness-intimidation-and-interference-in-the-trial-of-aaron-brady.html

Only 2 witnesses were willing to testify one of whose evidence was discarded due to video interference. Others were intimidated into not testifying and the jurors would have not have been aware of the other 5 testimonies who either failed to show up in court or who retracted their statements.

Irishman80

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I dunno the man....its likely he is guilty .....just i dont think,there enough evidence exists to convict him

The fact people openly call for death penalty for people,with no physical evidence linking them to a crime is alarming tbh (i actually support the idea of death penalty in right curcumstances)

You seem to be more worried about someone on a message board calling for the death penalty for capital murder than about a rotten scumbag who robs old women in post offices, executes innocent people, and brags about it when they're drunk.

tayto lover

Deleted User wrote: »

Joe o reilly had evidence,indicating he was in the area....deosnt seem similar evidencce exists here

Like the graham dywer case,no physical evidence exists..

You need to read up on the case. Brady was in the area with two other suspects who fled the country at the same time as Brady. I wonder why?

Edgware

KaneToad wrote: »

The jury, who actually heard all the evidence, thought he was guilty of the murder. Albeit that it was an 11-1 verdict.

That's good enough for me.

The jury didn think he was guilty of the murder. They believed it after hearing all the evidence, seen the dirtbirt lying in the witness box etc.

radharc

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

As far as I know there’s no remission for capital

There is, due to a Supreme Court finding a few years ago

Edgware

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I dunno the man....its likely he is guilty .....just i dont think,there enough evidence exists to convict him

The fact people openly call for death penalty for people,with no physical evidence linking them to a crime is alarming tbh (i actually support the idea of death penalty in right curcumstances)

And your opinions is of what use when not on the jury?

aloyisious

I'm just going to post on this thread once to mention that the defence lawyer acting on behalf of the accused in the trial stated as part of the defence that the shotgun may have recoiled when it was being fired at the slain Garda and that was possibly how the Garda was shot in the head. Maybe I misunderstood the implication of the accused's defence lawyer making that part of his client's defence [the shooting of the Garda to the head was accidental and not intended] on the charge of murdering the slain Garda which the accused denied any involvement in at all, and that denial included involvement in the robbery as well.

ChikiChiki

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

Says a lot:

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/criminal-court/aaron-brady-found-guilty-of-capital-murder-of-det-garda-adrian-donohoe-1.4328246

Also a witness was giving evidence in NY and someone came into the room to try get her to stop. That must have been terrifying.

Real nasty pieces involved here.

mr_fegelien

Why didn't he just kill himself in America when approached by the Secret Service??? Idiot. And also, who goes to the US to flee Irish law enforcement. Does he not know of this little thing called extradition treaties?

Overall a dumb guy and it's good he's paying for it?

Ashbourne hoop

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

As far as I know there’s no remission for capital

And it's a minimum of 40 years as far I know.

Edgware

ThewhiteJesus wrote: »

I'm not sure the conviction will stick that's my point, if only someone could tell us what the actual hard evidence was instead of saying end of story !

Why not read it up yourself rather than get someone else to do it? Check the newspaper sites.

Irishman80

Just another "Tiofaigh Ar La" piece of s--t doing scumbag s--t.

Gregor Samsa

Says a lot:

With the verdict returned the trial judge lifted an embargo on what he had called “the most outrageous” contempt of court he had seen in his career. It emerged during the trial that a video of one witness giving a statement about Aaron Brady to gardaí was circulated on social media with text calling the witness a “rat” and accusing him of “touting” on his friends. The witness in question did not come forward to give evidence. He was one of five witnesses who did not give evidence in a trial during which there were repeated claims that witnesses were suffering interference and intimidation.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/criminal-court/aaron-brady-found-guilty-of-capital-murder-of-det-garda-adrian-donohoe-1.4328246

Ash.J.Williams

davo2001 wrote: »

40 year sentence for capital murder, i wonder how long he will actually serve, hopefully the whole term but i doubt it.

As far as I know there’s no remission for capital

Alf Veedersane

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

Some people dismiss “circumstantial evidence”, as if it’s not real evidence. The legal system does not see it that way. Circumstantial evidence is very valid evidence, and I’d say most cases rely on it

The totally of evidence builds a picture of the events. The task of the jury is to decide if the picture built with the totality of evidence could be reasonably explained in another way. In this case, after listening to all the evidence, all the argument and counter argument about it, they decided that it could not.

It seems that the amount of circumstantial evidence is key...it's not like one piece of evidence alone but rather an accumulation of circumstantial evidence that together builds a compelling picture.

ThewhiteJesus

Edgware wrote: »

Youre not sure having read nothing about the case. FFS!

who said i haven't read anything about the case ?
Did a mod not warn people to stop attacking other posters ?

Gregor Samsa

For all the people who haven't read about the case, but still feel like commenting, here's a fairly detailed article:

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/aaron-brady-the-man-who-said-with-pride-he-was-a-cop-killer-1.4328380

Even at an estimated 24 minute read, it's not going to contain everything the jury heard over the course of the 122 days the court sat.