The man accused of murdering Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe has rejected a suggestion that he shares the characteristics of a psychopath.
On his fifth and final day giving evidence Aaron Brady (29) told prosecution counsel Brendan Grehan SC that a witness for the prosecution, Daniel Cahill, is a psychopath and a liar who assaulted him and threatened to cut off his toes after breaking into his apartment on St Patrick’s Day 2015. Mr Cahill denies any involvement in the assault and break-in and has told the trial that he heard Mr Brady admit to killing a garda on three occasions.
When Mr Grehan described a psychopath as someone who lacks morality, shows no remorse or empathy and is willing to lie to get out of any situation, blame others and play the victim card Mr Brady said, “That is exactly what Daniel Cahill is.”
Mr Grehan suggested that the accused “look a little closer to home” to which Mr Brady replied: “No. I have never gone into someone’s room and threatened to cut someone’s toes off.”
Aaron Brady (29) from New Road, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh has pleaded not guilty to the capital murder of Det Gda Adrian Donohoe who was then a member of An Garda Síochána on active duty on January 25th, 2013 at Lordship Credit Union, Bellurgan, Co Louth. 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.
The jury also heard on Friday that Mr Brady submitted an alibi on September 26th last year when his trial was due to begin on October 7th.
Mr Brady also agreed with Mr Grehan that a District Court judge told him on July 27th, 2018 that he had two weeks to provide an alibi and in February 2018 gardai told him that if he failed to mention anything that he would later rely on in court a jury could use his failure as support for other evidence.
Mr Grehan asked the accused about interviews he gave to gardai at Dundalk Garda station in February 2018. Mr Brady recalled gardaí telling him that under a provision in the Criminal Justice Act a jury could draw inferences against him if he refused to answer certain questions or did not say something which he would later rely on in court.
He said his solicitor told him there was “no definitive evidence linking to the crime” so he was advised not to answer. When Mr Brady was then asked in that interview in February 2018 if he wished to give an account he said: “I strongly deny any involvement in the murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe and any other matter put before me in interview.”
Mr Grehan said that after seven days in custody Mr Brady was charged with the murder of Detective Garda Donohoe and on July 27th 2018 appeared before a judge at the District Court where the book of evidence was served on him. Mr Brady agreed that on that date the judge at the District Court told him that he had 14 days to serve the prosecution with a notice of alibi. Mr Brady told counsel that he consulted his solicitor and understood what this meant.
The accused further agreed that he was initially listed for trial on October 7th 2019 and on September 26th his solicitor sent a a letter to the prosecution stating: “Please find enclosed a notice of alibi which is being served outside the statutory period.”
The letter stated that the defence had considered waiting until they had received full disclosure from the prosecution before serving the notice but due to the volume of ongoing disclosure and the impending trial date they had decided to send the notice now. The alibi notice contained one line stating: “The accused gives notice of alibi that at the time of the commission of the offence the accused was at Concession Road, Crossmaglen.”
On December 20th, 2019 Mr Brady’s solicitor wrote a second letter with an enclosed statement by Mr Brady detailing his movements at the time of the robbery and shooting at Lordship Credit Union. The notice of alibi was officially served on February 17th, a number of weeks after the trial had begun.
Mr Grehan then read the statement made by Mr Brady in which he said that when he spoke to gardai in February 2013 he was reluctant to tell them that he had been loading cubes of illegally laundered diesel waste at a yard on Concession Road in south Armagh at the time of the shooting out of fear that he might be prosecuted.
He said he gave gardai an “off the record” account of his involvement in diesel laundering but told them he was unable to to load any cubes onto the trailer because the forklift didn’t work. He said he left the yard after about 15 minutes. In his evidence before the jury Mr Brady has said that was a lie and that in fact he spent about 90 minutes to two hours loading diesel onto a trailer from 8pm to about 9.30pm or 10pm. The shooting at Lordship happened at between 9.25pm and 9.30pm.
Mr Grehan put it to the accused that by allowing him to make this portion of his statement off the record gardaí were making it clear to him that they were only interested in getting an honest account of his movements and had no interest in diesel laundering.
Mr Brady replied: “I’m sure they had some interest, They did say they weren’t interested in anything else but you have to understand, I’m talking to two members of An Garda Siochana. They have that information as soon as I tell them.” When Mr Grehan pointed out that Concession Road is in Northern Ireland and beyond the power of the gardai Mr Brady replied: “I don’t know what what powers the gardai had.”
Mr Grehan put it to him that if he had such a concern he wouldn’t have told gardai anything about diesel laundering and suggested that he did implicate himself in a crime by saying that he was trying to load cubes of illegal diesel waste. Mr Brady said that at the time he didn’t believe that trying to start a forklift was a crime and therefore he wasn't implicating himself in a crime. He said he didn’t want to tell gardai that he had actually loaded cubes onto the trailer.
Mr Brady also criticised the garda investigation, saying that gardai should have checked the yard on Concession Road after he told them he had spent 15 minutes there from about 8pm on the night of the robbery.
Mr Brady also addressed the evidence of Molly Staunton who told the trial that she heard Mr Brady say that he had “shot a cop” in Ireland. The accused said that Ms Staunton was mistaken. He said he the word “cop” would not be in his vocabulary and suggested that Ms Staunton may have had trouble understanding his accent. He accepted Ms Staunton’s evidence that he had come out of his room one evening upset and “ranting” but he said this was because gardai had called to his girlfriend’s parents’ home in Tralee and “blackened my name”. He was angry, he said, because he thought he was going to lose his girlfriend and unborn son.
He described Ms Staunton as “vulnerable” and said he was concerned that during her evidence via video link from her New York home she was interrupted by a man telling her: “Tell them what you are supposed to tell them.”
Mr Brady also denied ever telling Daniel Cahill that he had shot a garda or murdered anyone.
Under reexamination defence counsel Michael O’Higgins SC asked Mr Brady where he would put himself on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 would describe a person who says: “Things are hard, let’s get on with it,” and five would describe someone who says: “Poor me, I’m a victim.” Mr Brady put himself at number 1.
The trial will continue on Monday in front of Mr Justice Michael White and a jury of six men and seven women.