Michael Brady pleads not guilty to drugs and gun charges

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

Michael Brady was charged before the Special Criminal Court with possessing €1.5 million worth of cocaine, €1.26 million worth of heroin, an assault rifle and more than 180 rounds of ammunition at Sallins Bridge, Sallins, Co Kildare, on 24 January 2017. He pleaded not guilty to all nine counts. The proceedings were reported on 19 March 2019.

The State’s case was that forensic evidence linked Brady to some of the items found at Sallins Bridge and to the address. Brady told gardaí that he sometimes stayed there to look after dogs, had permission to be there and had his own keys. He said he did not pay rent, his name was not on the lease and he had nothing illegal in the room where he slept.

Prosecution counsel Fiona Murphy SC said the property owner found what appeared to be controlled drugs and a firearm at the base of a bed after gardaí had searched the house. Brady denied that two rounds of ammunition found behind a chair belonged to him.

Brady said his brother Declan Brady also had a key and sometimes stayed at the house because he owned the dogs. Detective Garda Maria O’Hara said a lease-related letter addressed to Declan Brady had been seized from a downstairs bedroom.

The trial was continuing before Mr Justice Paul Coffey, presiding, sitting with Judge Gerard Griffin and Judge David McHugh.