Aaron Brady loses appeal over conviction for murder of Det Garda Adrian Donohoe

Garda murderer Aaron Brady did not react today when the Court of Appeal upheld his conviction for shooting dead Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe.

Brady’s family, who have conducted a campaign insisting on his innocence, consoled one another when Mr Justice John Edwards made it clear that the three-judge court had not been persuaded by any of the nearly 50 grounds of appeal. Wearing a navy suit and pink tie, Brady was quickly returned to the cell area by prison officers following the judgment.

It was, Mr Justice Edwards said, a difficult case and the appeal itself was the longest in the ten-year history of the court.

The court’s decision means that Brady will remain serving his life sentence with a minimum term of 40 years. With remission for good behaviour, he will be allowed to apply for parole in February 2048, after he has spent 30 years in prison on the murder conviction.

In August 2020, Brady (33) formerly of New Road, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh was convicted by a jury of the murder of Det Gda Adrian Donohoe during a credit union robbery at Lordship, Bellurgan, Co Louth on January 25th, 2013.

In today’s 363-page judgment, Mr Justice Edwards dismissed all of the “broad panoply” of issues raised, including an argument by Brady that his trial should have been halted due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. In their arguments before the court, Brady’s lawyers said their client’s case remained the only one at hearing as the pandemic took hold and it was inappropriate for a jury to determine his guilt or innocence as people were dying from Covid-19.

In reply, Brendan Grehan SC, for the DPP, said there wasn’t “an iota of a suggestion never mind evidence” that the jurors felt coerced to come to court and argued that no “unbearable burden” had been placed on them.

Daniel Cahill and Molly Staunton proved to be key witnesses in Brady’s trial as they both testified that they heard Brady admit to killing a “guard” or a “cop” while Brady was living in the United States. Due to Covid restrictions in New York, “ad-hoc” arrangements were made for them to give their evidence via video-link. Mr Justice Edwards said these arrangements “may not have been ideal” but were not an error “per se”.

Ms Staunton told the trial that she heard Brady say he had to “carry around the guilt of having murdered a cop in Ireland”. Ms Staunton said in her direct evidence that Brady also claimed during a drunken “rant” to be “the most feared man in Ireland”.

In relation to Ms Staunton’s evidence, the court found that the court was correct to allow the prosecution to treat her as a hostile witness when she appeared to resile from her evidence during cross examination.

Brady was also sentenced to 14 years for robbery, a sentence that will run concurrently with the life sentence.