Man jailed for nine years for role in Noel Kirwan murder

A 57-year-old man who helped the Kinahan Organised Crime Group murder a man who had no involvement in criminality has been jailed for nine years.

Noel Kirwan, 62, was shot six times in the driveway of his home on 22 December 2016, after he had been photographed with Gerard Hutch at the funeral of Eddie Hutch, who was shot dead as part of the Hutch- Kinahan feud.

Declan Brady, who now claims he is no longer affiliated with the Kinahan crime gang, is already serving sentences for money laundering and firearms offences.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt said while Brady was not at the frontline in relation to this offence, he was not on the periphery either.

He suspended the final year of a ten-year sentence on condition that Brady continue the process of disassociation from the gang.

The Kinahan Organised Crime Group had put a tracking device on Mr Kirwan’s car and a senior figure in the organised crime group monitored his movements on a laptop in an apartment at the Beacon South Quarter in Dublin.

Brady was a money launderer and in charge of the gang’s firearms storage depot at the time.

Known as ‘Mr Nobody’, his DNA was found on a toothbrush in the apartment and he also drove the senior figure around in the back of a car with tinted windows.

Detective Superintendent Mark O’Neill said that gardaí had recovered the tracking device and downloaded the information on it along with phone evidence, CCTV footage and surveillance of Brady and other Kinahan gang members.

Brady, who has been in jail for seven years for other Kinahan gun and money laundering offences, pleaded guilty to helping the gang commit the murder.

In a victim impact statement, Mr Kirwan’s only daughter Donna asked Brady what did he gain from the murder and was it worth it for him and his friends.

“You hadn’t the intelligence to do your homework,” she told him. “Dad was an innocent man. How does it feel to know you’re going to prison for killing an innocent man?”

She added: “You may not have pulled the trigger” but “his murder wouldn’t have happened without you”.

Mr Kirwan’s partner Bernadette Rose, who was sitting beside him in the car when he was shot dead, told the court how she remains deeply traumatised by the events that day.

Defence counsel said Brady was now “a model prisoner” in the progression unit at Mountjoy Prison, who had “pressed… a reset button” on his life.

Senior Counsel Michael O’Higgins said Brady has had a significant period of reflection and has disassociated himself from those in the organised crime group.

Mr Justice Hunt said that Brady had an allegiance to the Kinahan Organised Crime Group and while he was not on the frontline in this case he was not on the periphery either.

He pointed out that while serving sentences for gun crime and money laundering, Brady appears to have had “a significant change of heart, emphasis and attitude” and has “applied himself positively while in custody”.

However, he also noted that the words remorse, regret or apology do not appear.

He sentenced Brady to ten years in prison with the final year suspended on condition he continue to disassociate himself from the organised crime group.

The judge also expressed his condolences to the Kirwan family and thanked all the witnesses who came forward with evidence in the case.

Brady is the second man to be imprisoned for helping the gang commit the murder of Noel Kirwan

Michael Crotty, 42, of Slí Aonghusa, Aras na Rí, Cashel, Co Tipperary was last month jailed for two years after he admitted buying his friend, a leading member of the gang, a top-up for a phone that was used to coordinate the murder.