A WITNESS WHO told gardaí that he had heard Aaron Brady admit to killing Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe was warned that he would be “dealt with” if he set foot in Ireland and that his family would “get it” if he gave evidence at Brady’s murder trial, the Special Criminal Court has heard.

Detective Inspector Mark Phillips today told the three-judge, non-jury court that people who had spoken to gardaí investigating Detective Garda Donohoe’s murder were concerned for their safety or the safety of their families. One witness said he feared he would be killed if he testified in court.

Detective Inspector Phillips said ten witnesses who made statements to gardaí did not come to court to give evidence during Brady’s murder trial in 2020.

Some of those witnesses complained about being directly or indirectly threatened or hassled by associates of Brady, the detective said.

He told prosecution counsel Lorcan Staines SC that one of those witnesses, Ronan Flynn, told gardaí in a video-recorded interview carried out in a New York police station in 2017 that he heard Brady admit to killing Detective Garda Donohoe on multiple occasions while they were living together in the US.

Flynn also confirmed to gardaí that US citizen Molly Staunton was present when Brady admitted to the murder. Staunton was one of just two people who testified to hearing Brady admit to the murder.

In January 2019, Ronan Flynn told Detective Inspector Phillips that he was concerned for his own safety and the safety of his family after a message was relayed to him that if he “ever set foot back in Ireland he would be dealt with” and that if he gave evidence “his family would get it”. Detective Inspector Phillips met with Ronan Flynn in New York in July 2019 and Flynn told him that he was concerned about his family in Ireland.

Flynn said he had been approached by a known associate of Brady’s who lived in New York and that a lawyer acting on behalf of Brady had asked to speak to him about the case. Flynn told the detective that he was “under extreme pressure in relation to giving evidence”.

Another man who gave a statement to gardaí but did not give evidence in court said that he had fears for his family in Ireland if he testified. When gardaí served a witness order on another witness, he said that he feared he would be killed if he came to court.

He said he had been “visited in relation to giving evidence” but refused to provide further information and did not testify at Brady’s trial, Detective Inspector Phillips said

Another man, Colin Hoey had “significant evidence” to give, Detective Inspector Phillips said, but did not attend the trial and was later prosecuted and sentenced for his failure to attend.

A man who told gardaí that Brady admitted to him in a bar in Yonkers, New York, that he shot Detective Garda Donohoe also did not attend the trial.

Daniel Cahill told Detective Inspector Phillips that he had been approached in the street in New York by an associate of Brady’s.

Cahill did not tell the man that he had spoken to gardaí and went on to give evidence at Brady’s trial of having heard Brady admit to the murder on three occasions.

Detective Inspector Phillips was giving evidence at the trial of Dean Byrne (30) from Cabra Park, Phibsborough, Dublin.

Byrne is on trial having pleaded not guilty to conspiring to persuade prosecution witness Daniel Cahill not to give evidence at Brady’s trial in order to pervert the course of justice between 8 April 2020 and 22 June 2020.

Byrne’s lawyer Padraig Dwyer SC told the court that he was not objecting to Detective Inspector Phillips giving hearsay evidence relating to witness intimidation because his client is not charged with intimidation and there is no suggestion he had any involvement. He said he is taking a “practical approach” to the trial.

Aaron Brady was due to go on trial with Mr Byrne but last week Brady pleaded guilty to embarking on a course of conduct intended to pervert the course of justice on a date between 20 February and 7 May 2020.

Brady accepted that he was responsible for recording the playing of Ronan Flynn’s interview with gardaí at the New York police station in which Flynn said he heard Brady admit to the murder.

The video that was recorded by Brady was uploaded to social media during Brady’s trial with text accusing Mr Flynn of “touting” and claiming he had criminal charges against him dropped in the US in return for his testimony.

In his opening speech last week, Staines said that Brady and Byrne shared a landing in Mountjoy prison during Brady’s murder trial.

Counsel outlined a number of exchanges on a phone found in Byrne’s cell. He said that in one exchange, Byrne referred to the fact that Daniel Cahill was to give evidence against Aaron Brady.

“The young fella is trying to live a life and people are saying he done something he didn’t do,” Byrne is alleged to have said in one audio message in which he is also alleged to have offered to send transcripts of Cahill’s garda statements.

Staines said it is clear from the messages that Dean Byrne knew from speaking to Aaron Brady when Daniel Cahill was due to give evidence, information that was not in the public domain.

Staines said Byrne also referenced a key element of what would later be the defence’s cross examination of Cahill – that the witness had been caught by Homeland Security in America with cannabis in his apartment.

In another message, it is alleged Byrne told a person “he is doing that on Monday, bro” in what Staines said was a reference to Cahill’s scheduled testimony. In another message he wrote: “He’s doing that this week, will you try and talk to him? It’s not on.”

On the same day, Byrne had a conversation with a man who said he would “do damage” to Cahill.

Byrne’s trial continues before Mr Justice Paul Burns, Her Honour Judge Elma Sheahan and Judge Marie Keane.