Aaron Brady's girlfriend deleted about ten messages from him off her phone in the hours around the fatal shooting of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
One of the deleted messages which was sent on the afternoon following the shooting read: "Please Jess, I just want to get away til this blows over."
Mr Brady, 29, from New Road, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of 41-year-old Det Gda Donohoe who was on active duty shortly before 9.30pm on 25 January 2013 at Lordship Credit Union, Bellurgan, Co Louth when he was shot.
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.
Sergeant Karen Coughlan told prosecution counsel Lorcan Staines SC that she selected 156 relevant pieces of information out of about 10,000 that were lifted from Jessica King's phone.
She said there were a number of messages between Ms King and a phone that was saved as AaronX in her phone's contacts list.
On the night of the robbery there were exchanges between Ms King and a phone number saved as Brades2.
Many of the messages, Sgt Coughlan said, concerned an argument between Mr Brady and Ms King on the night before the shooting that continued into the early hours.
On the night of the robbery and shooting, the witness said, there was a series of deleted messages between Ms King and two phones which had been attributed to Mr Brady.
In the first deleted message Mr Brady told Ms King he had to load a lorry that night and he would text her when he got home.
At 10.47pm, more than an hour and 15 minutes after the shooting, there was an instant Facebook message from Mr Brady asking if Ms King was awake and telling her he was sorry that he had not texted her but his other phone was dead.
The exact same message was sent to her phone via SMS from the phone named Brades2 and three minutes later there was a message saying Ms King had missed a call from an associate of Mr Brady who has been named as a suspect in the robbery.
One minute after that there was a missed call message from Brades2.
One of the deleted messages was from Ms King saying that she was awake and there was an exchange regarding whether Mr Brady had been calling Ms King on his friend's phone.
At 11.04pm Brades2 texted Ms King to say: "I don't mind, I would like to see you if you want like."
There was no further phone contact between the phones until 3.37am when Mr Brady texted Ms King to say he was back in his friend's house.
He added: "Thanks for letting me call over even though I know you didn't want to see me."
Ms King told him he had left his phone behind and he said he would pick it up the next day.
Sgt Coughlan also described seven contacts in Ms King's phone that were created on 13 January 2013 and modified on 26 January in the early hours of the morning. These included Mr Brady and his associate who has been named as a suspect for the robbery at Lordship.
The trial continues in front of Mr Justice Michael White and a jury of eight men and seven women.
