Aaron Brady loses appeal over Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe murder conviction

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Court of Appeal dismissed Aaron Brady’s appeal against his conviction for the capital murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe on 11 July 2024. The three judges rejected all the grounds argued over a seven-day hearing in October 2023.

Brady was found guilty by an 11-to-one jury majority at the Central Criminal Court on 12 August 2020. Donohoe was shot dead during a robbery at Lordship Credit Union in Bellurgen, Co Louth, on 25 January 2013.

In October 2020, Brady was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum of 40 years, for murdering a garda acting in accordance with his duty. He was also sentenced to 14 years for the robbery, to run concurrently with the life sentence.

One appeal ground concerned interruptions to witness Molly Staunton’s evidence by video link from New York in June 2020. Brady’s lawyers argued that the interruptions prejudiced his trial, although there was nothing to suggest the man was acting on Brady’s behalf. The trial judge ruled that a warning to the jury could address the issue.

Staunton told the trial that Brady said he had to carry the guilt of murdering a police officer in Ireland. Under cross-examination, she agreed with Fiona Murphy SC’s suggestion that Brady was concerned gardaí were looking for him but had never admitted carrying out the shooting of Donohoe.

Delivering the appeal judgment, Mr Justice John Edwards said the interruptions did not create a real and substantial risk of an unfair trial that could not be avoided by the trial judge’s directions. The judge had acknowledged the absence of supervision and referred to the interruptions as coming from the witness’s boyfriend.