Two men have been jailed for attempting to stop two witnesses testifying against Aaron Brady for the murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohue who was shot dead at the Lordship Credit Union in Co Louth 11 years ago.
Both heard Brady admit that he has shot a garda, one did not give evidence, but the 33-year-old from New Road, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh was convicted of the capital murder of Det Gda Donohoe and is serving life in prison with a minimum of 40 years.
He has been jailed for another three years for perverting the course of justice during his murder trial by playing the recording of a witness being interviewed by gardaí.
A second charge of conspiring to persuade another prosecution witness not to give evidence in the case has been taken into account.
Brady admitted perverting the course of justice by recording from a laptop the playing of a video of witness Ronan Flynn being interviewed by gardaí on a date unknown between 20 February 2020 and 7 May 2020.
Ronan Flynn, a witness, told gardaí he had heard Brady admit to shooting Det Gda Donohoe three times.
The video was later posted on social media accusing Mr Flynn of "touting" and calling him a "rat".
Mr Flynn did not give evidence at Brady's trial and Mr Justice Michael White, who oversaw the murder trial, described the release of the footage as "the most outrageous contempt of court" and a clear attempt to intimidate Flynn and other witnesses.
A second charge of conspiring to persuade prosecution witness Daniel Cahill not to give evidence in order to pervert the course of justice between 8 April 2020, and 22 June 2020 was taken into account.
Brady was on trial at the time for the murder of Det Gda Donohoe who was shot dead at the Lordship Credit Union in January 2013.
Brady was convicted of the capital murder and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 40 years.
The conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeal.
A second man, Dean Byrne from Cabra Park in Dublin has also been jailed for conspiring to pervert the course of justice during Brady's trial for the murder of Det Gda Donohoe.
The 31-year-old violent criminal was sentenced to two years in prison.
Byrne was found guilty at Special Criminal Court earlier this year of conspiring with Brady in Mountjoy Prison between 8 April 2020 and 22 June 2020 to persuade prosecution witness Daniel Cahill not to give evidence at Brady's murder trial, a course of conduct which had a tendency to and which was intended to pervert the course of justice.
He denied the charge but the court found that Byrne tried to get family members of a key witness to contact Daniel Cahill and persuade him not to tell the trial that Brady had confessed to him on at least three occasions that he murdered a garda.
As part of the conspiracy, Brady sent copies of parts of Mr Cahill's statement to Byrne who then passed them on to a man who had previously lived with Mr Cahill's father.
Byrne repeatedly asked this man to "talk to him [Daniel Cahill] and ask him not to do it".
In another message, Byrne referred to Mr Cahill as a "filthbag, rat bastard of a thing".
Byrne is already serving a 14-year sentence for a burglary in 2013 in which he and six other violent criminals broke into a family home in Co Tipperary and terrorised the parents and their three daughters, aged eight, six and two.
He has 127 previous convictions.
Byrne was due to be released later this year but today's sentence is consecutive which means it will begin at the end of his current sentence.
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Mr Justice Paul Burns said that the offences were extremely serious and go to the heart of the administration of justice and the rule of law in a democratic society.
He said they risk "fundamentally undermining the criminal justice system and that can not be tolerated."
He said the "index offence" of capital murder could hardly be more serious but because it did not involve actual or threatened violence, or inducements, it was at "the lower end of the methods utilised".
Brady, he said, was the driving force. Byrne had no connection with him prior to going in to custody and there was no explanation for his involvement.
Brady and Byrne were both housed in the D wing in Mountjoy and communicated face-to-face in the exercise year, through the stairwell, in leaflets and via mobile phone.
Ronan Flynn, the judge said, was "an important witness". Aaron Brady lived with him for a time in New York where Brady had admitted a number of times to have shot a garda.
A garda interview with him was recorded and Brady was provided with a laptop in custody to access it.
It was modified with no internet access but Brady recorded the interview on a mobile phone and uploaded it on WhatsApp.
Clips were circulated on Facebook and YouTube and comments were added about Ronan Flynn including that he was "touting on his own cousins" and that he had gotten a green card and his charges dropped.
Brady did not add these comments but Flynn did not give evidence in the trial. The prosecution could not say this was because of the video.
Daniel Cahill also made a statement to gardaí that Brady had said to him three times that he shot a garda.
It was agreed between Brady and Dean Byrne that Byrne would contact Mr Cahill's relatives to try to "persuade" him not to give evidence. Byrne also sent images of Mr Cahill’s statement to a relative.
"Those communications make it clear Dean Byrne and Aaron Brady were acting in concert to persuade Daniel Cahill not to testify," the judge said.
Mr Cahill did testify in the capital murder trial.
Brady was sentenced to an additional three years in prison on top of the 14 years he is serving for the robbery at Lordship for perverting the course of justice while Dean Byrne was jailed for an additional two years.
Senior Counsel Lorcan Staines told a previous hearing that following Brady’s conviction for the capital murder, an online campaign had been commenced and conducted by his father Tony Brady.
The campaign featured his mother, sisters and many other people, on various social media platforms.
He said transcripts of the murder trial had been published by the Brady family including references to witnesses before the Central Criminal Court.
That publication he said took place in conjunction with vitriolic commentary on witnesses and in particular on the two witnesses in this case.
He described it as personal, scandalous and vitriolic commentary and he said that vitriolic commentary had also been made towards lawyers, gardaí and the trial judge in the murder case, the now retired Mr Justice Michael White.
He pointed out that Mr Justice Tony Hunt had excluded Tony Brady in another case last year before the Special Criminal Court.
Mr Staines also said that very many hours had been spent suggesting a state conspiracy against Brady in relation to the charges which he said was now ironic because Brady had admitted what he had done and pleaded guilty.
Tony Brady handed leaflets to members of the media in court today but declined to comment to RTÉ News after his son’s sentencing.
