GARDAÍ HAVE TODAY arrested four people over allegations of witness intimidation during the capital murder trial of convicted garda killer Aaron Brady.
Officers attached to the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI) have been investigating allegations of witness intimidation, perverting the course of justice and the unlawful use of mobile phones in the prison environment, all related to the recent criminal trial of DPP versus Aaron Brady.
Detective Gardaí attached to the Serious Crime Review Team in the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI) arrested four people in relation to this investigation.
All four people are currently detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 in Mountjoy, Ballymun, Bridewell and Raheny Garda Stations respectively, for the proper investigation of the offences concerned.
Brady was convicted in August for the murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe.
The capital murder trial took place against a background of intimidation and interference, with witnesses and their families subjected to threats and targeted using social media.
Molly Staunton, who told the trial that she heard Brady admit that he “shot a cop”, received a death threat on Snapchat within hours of completing her testimony.
Throughout the trial, prosecution counsel Brendan Grehan SC raised concerns about the impact of witness interference and intimidation and worried that ongoing delays caused by the Covid-19 outbreak and lengthy legal argument gave those intimidation efforts greater chance of success.
In total, five people who had given statements to gardaí failed to show up in court or told the prosecution that their original statements were inaccurate.
One talked of being “petrified” after coming into information about the shooting.
Another potential witness, a friend of Aaron Brady’s, originally provided an alibi for him but later retracted it and then did not come to court.
With reporting by Eoin Reynolds
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