A KEY WITNESS who failed to appear in court to give evidence in the capital murder trial of Aaron Brady has been arrested and will face trial for contempt of court.

Aaron Brady was found guilty of the capital murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe by an 11-to-one majority jury verdict at the Central Criminal Court on August 11.

The 29-year-old with a last address at New Road, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh is expected to be sentenced to the mandatory term for capital murder of life imprisonment with a minimum time served of 40 years on October 14.

Brady was also convicted of involvement in the robbery of €7,000 at Lordship Credit Union in Bellurgen, Co Louth on January 25, 2013.

Brendan Grehan SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), this morning told Mr Justice Michael White that a bench warrant had been issued for Colin Hoey by the Central Criminal Court for failing to come to court to give evidence during the trial of Aaron Brady.

The court heard that the alleged offence is punishable by imprisonment, fine or both.

During hearings at Brady’s trial, Detective Inspector Mark Phillips of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation said that Hoey was a witness of “some significance” who had provided an alibi for Brady but had later withdrawn that alibi.

Sergeant Paul Gill today gave evidence that he had served the original witness order on Hoey at St Malachi’s GAA football grounds in Dundalk, Co Louth on April 30, 2019, which required him to give evidence at Brady’s trial on October 8 last year.

Hoey accepted service of it, he said. The court heard that Brady’s trial did not proceed on October 8, 2019 and eventually commenced on January 27, 2020.

Contact

Detective Garda Padraic O’Reilly testified that he had made contact with Hoey to secure his attendance at the Brady trial.

The witness said he called to the home of Hoey at O’Neill Estate, Cregganduff, Co Armagh on the afternoon of March 3, 2020 and informed him that he was required to attend the Criminal Courts of Justice the following day at 11am and if he did not show up a bench warrant would be issued.

Detective Garda O’Reilly said Hoey told him to contact his solicitor and he requested Hoey to contact him later that day to let him know if he would be attending court the next day. “I did not receive any contact from him,” said the witness.

Detective Garda O’Reilly said that court did not start at 11am on March 4 and in these circumstances Detective Inspector Mark Phillips and Detective Garda Jim McGovern were present in the building of The Criminal Courts of Justice in case Hoey showed up. The witness said that Hoey did not attend court that day.

The witness agreed with Grehan that trial judge Mr Justice White had issued a bench warrant on March 5, 2020 and attempts were made by gardaí to execute the warrant after this date. Hoey continued to reside in Armagh and occasionally came to this jurisdiction for work and other purposes, said the lawyer.

As a result of the bench warrant, Detective Inspector Martin Beggy contacted the home of Hoey and spoke to his father Declan Hoey to get his son to attend Dundalk Garda Station and have the warrant executed, said Grehan.

Detective Garda O’Reilly agreed with counsel that Declan Hoey said his son did not want anything to do with the Brady case and did not want to get involved. Detective Inspector Beggy told Declan Hoey that the warrant would remain in existence regardless of the outcome of the trial, said Grehan.

Detective Garda O’Reilly said solicitor Danny McNamee, for Hoey, made contact with gardaí last week and told them that his client wished to present himself for the execution of the warrant. The accused man presented himself outside the precincts of the court this morning and the warrant was executed, he said.

The witness agreed with Grehan that while Hoey presented himself at the Criminal Courts of Justice today, he continues to reside outside the jurisdiction and had significant evidence to give at Brady’s trial if he had attended.

Detective Garda O’Reilly agreed with defence counsel, Niall Storan BL, that Hoey continues to reside outside the jurisdiction but has permission to reside at the home of his partner’s parents in Dundalk.

The witness said he was satisfied that gardaí would be able to contact the father-of-two on his mobile phone and noted that the defendant is prepared to surrender his Irish passport.

Grehan told Mr Justice White that the principal factor was the contempt of court by Hoey, which is punishable by imprisonment, fine or both. The barrister pointed out that the court can conduct a summary trial at the High Court if the matter is contested.

Granted bail

The judge granted bail to Hoey for the duration of the contempt proceedings as well as legal aid to cover senior and junior counsel in his case.

The bail conditions include that Hoey must enter his own bond of €2,000; surrender his Irish passport within 24 hours and not apply for any duplicate passport or travel documents; reside at his partner’s parents’ house in Dundalk for the duration of the proceedings; sign on daily at Dundalk Garda Station; provide a mobile phone number to gardaí and keep it on at all times so he can be contacted by gardai.

Mr Justice White warned Hoey not to “mess” with the bail conditions as the consequences would be grave. The matter was put in for November 24, when it is expected that the court will deal with submissions from the defence as to the High Court’s jurisdiction.